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BAQUBA, Iraq, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces on Thursday captured three cells affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group in operations across Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a provincial official told Xinhua.
"An intelligence team from the defense ministry managed to capture the members of three of the terrorist IS cells, one of which was tasked with assassinations," Sadiq al-Husseiny, head of the security committee of Diyala's provincial council, told Xinhua.
Based on accurate intelligence reports, the team surprised the terrorists in the early hours of the day and captured them in their houses with their weapons in four towns across the province, Husseiny said.
The intelligence believe that the three groups were planning to carry out a series of violent attacks in the coming days against civilians and assassinations against senior government and security officials in the province, Husseiny said without giving more information about the exact number of the cells members or the names of the targeted officials.
Diyala province which stretches from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border, east of the country, has long been a volatile area since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, as the sectarian mixed province was repeatedly hit by sectarian tensions between the Sunni and Shiite communities.
Iraq has witnessed worsening violence since the IS group took control of parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014.
Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts killed 691 Iraqis and wounded 1,016 others in August across Iraq, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq said on Thursday.
Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the United State, who invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003.
