BAGHDAD (AP) – “Sleeper cells” made up of former Iraqi police officers and soldiers are tipping off authorities to Islamic State group positions in the northern city of Mosul, a prominent lawmaker has told The Associated Press.
The comments by Hakim al-Zamili, the head of parliament’s security and defense committee, are the first high-level confirmation of the groups’ existence after weeks of rumors.
Their work remains incredibly dangerous as the Islamic State group has shut down mobile phone networks and regularly kills suspected government collaborators. However, their intelligence could prove invaluable as the U.S.-led coalition steps up airstrikes around Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, to disrupt Islamic State group supply lines ahead of an expected operation later this year to take back the city from militants
“Those patriotic groups, some operate from inside the city of Mosul and others from the areas surrounding it, are now giving us information about the military preparations being made by Islamic State group in order to face any attack by government forces to retake the city,” al-Zamili told the AP.
The Islamic State group captured Mosul in August during its blitz across northern Iraq. The militants now hold about a third of both Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared caliphate.