Most camps for displaced people in Iraq now closed, according to Baghdad

KERKESLOKH, Iraq — On Saturday, Deputy Commander of Joint Operations in Iraq Lieutenant General Abdul-Amir al-Shamri announced fortifying 80% of the border with Syria through border guard deployments, thermal cameras, barbed wire, and trenches. Al-Shamri stressed that Iraqi forces are working to completely fortify the border to prevent any infiltration by terrorists or smugglers.

The Iraqi Federal Police announced arrests of two terror suspects in the Al-Qubba area of ​​Kerkeslokh (Kirkuk) Governorate and another in the Al-Furat neighborhood, west of Baghdad. The Federal Police noted that the three suspects were among those wanted according to Article 4 of Terrorism Law and were referred to the concerned authorities.

In related news, the Kurdistan Regional Security Council announced the arrest of an Islamic State (ISIS) cell responsible for the huge blast in Baghdad last July, adding that it was planning to carry out more terrorist acts.

In a press statement on Saturday, Minister of Migration and Displacement Ivan Faeq Jabro announced the closure of all displaced people camps except the camps in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) as they are administered by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Jabro indicated that the last camp in Mosul — Al-Jada’a Camp – will be closed this month.

“Cities of the majority of the IDPs in Erbil and Sulaimaniya have been prepared, except those of Sinjar IDPs,” she declared.

At its peak, there were approximately 5.5 million IDPs in Iraq. About a million IDPs migrated to neighboring countries and Europe during ISIS control in 2014.