RFE
16 Nov 2019, 01:15 GMT+10
Ukraine's main security agency says it has arrested a key figure in the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.
Al-Bara Shishani, a Georgian national, was apprehended near Ukraine's capital, Kiyv, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said in a Facebook statement on November 15.
The statement said the CIA and Georgia's Interior Ministry participated in the operation.
Vika Klimicheva, a spokeswoman for Georgia's state security service, confirmed the man was being held in Ukraine and said his birth name was Cezar Tokhosashvili.
Shishani has served as a deputy to Abu Omar al-Shishani, the man the Pentagon has described as the IS's 'minister of war.'
After the latter was killed in 2016, Shishani fled to Turkey and in 2018 used a fake passport to travel to Ukraine, where he continued to coordinate IS activities, the SBU said.
He was detained in the Kyiv region near a private home where he resided, the statement said, without saying when the operation too place.
'A portrait examination has proved that the detained foreigner is indeed a wanted leader of the Islamic State,' according to the SBU.
Both Shishani and al-Shishani were said to have been born in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge region near the border with Russia's North Caucasus region of Daghestan.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Republished with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036
Get a daily dose of Irish Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Irish Sun.
More InformationWASHINGTON, DC - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed Elon Musk's success has been built on government subsidies. Without...
EVERGLADES, Florida: Over the weekend, a diverse coalition of environmental activists, Native American leaders, and residents gathered...
BEIJING, China: China's national soccer team may struggle to stir excitement, but its humanoid robots are drawing cheers — and not...
]LONDON, U.K.: A World Health Organization (WHO) expert group investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic released its final...
DOVER, Delaware: California Governor Gavin Newsom has taken legal aim at Fox News, accusing the network of deliberately distorting...
FRANKFURT, Germany: Germany has become the latest country to challenge Chinese AI firm DeepSeek over its data practices, as pressure...
VILNIUS, Lithuania – A growing body of research suggests that selectively restricting a single nutrient in our diet could have profound...
DUBLIN, Ireland: Former government minister Mary Hanafin has confirmed she will seek the Fianna Fáil nomination to contest Ireland's...
FRANKFURT, Germany: Germany has become the latest country to challenge Chinese AI firm DeepSeek over its data practices, as pressure...
DUBLIN, Ireland: Ireland's EU Commissioner Michael McGrath has defended Commission Vice President Kaja Kallas over her recent comments...
SAN FRANCISCO, California: Under pressure from European regulators, Apple has revamped its App Store policies in the EU, introducing...
BONN, Germany: Despite widespread belt-tightening across the United Nations, nearly 200 countries agreed this week to increase the...