ERBIL — Iraqi security forces on Saturday captured several Islamic State (IS) families on the border areas between Iraq and Syria, an official statement has confirmed.
The Iraqi Security Media Cell said that the border forces managed to capture a number of IS families, consisting of 24 women and children, in the border village of Abtakh, in Rabia town of Nineveh province, through thermal cameras.
They were attempting to cross the Iraqi border before they were ambushed by the country's border forces, according to the statement.
The 24 individuals were handed over to the camps of IS families in Iraq where they will be interrogated as well.
Iraqi authorities in late September repatriated 55 members IS families al-Hol camp to al-Jadaa camp in Iraq.
Thousands of Iraqi nationals are among the families of Islamic State fighters, killed in Syria and Iraq between 2014 and 2018, held in al-Hol camp.
According to official statistics, al-Hol camp is home to 16,404 families, with a number of 60,351 members, including 8,256 Iraqi families, estimated at 30,738 people, and 5,619 Syrian families, consisting of 21,058 members, and about 2,529 foreign families, estimated at 8,555 people.