Iraq arrests ISIL suspect over New Orleans attack

BAGHDAD

Iraqi authorities have arrested a suspected member of the ISIL terrorist organization for inciting a January truck-ramming attack that killed 14 people in the U.S. city of New Orleans, Iraq’s judiciary said on April 27.

The city in the southern state of Louisiana was plunged into a panic early on New Year’s Day when a U.S. army veteran, who the FBI said had pledged loyalty to ISIL, ploughed a pickup truck into revelers in the crowded French Quarter, famed for its nightlife.

Police killed the suspect in an exchange of fire.

Investigators found guns and what appeared to be an improvised explosive device in the vehicle, which bore the flag of ISIL, along with other explosive devices elsewhere in the French Quarter.

Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council said that an ISIL member “was arrested for inciting the January 2025 truck attack in the United States” after Iraq received a request from Washington to assist in the investigation.

It added that the suspect is “a member of the external operations office of the Daesh terrorist organization,” using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

The suspect will be tried in Iraq under the anti-terrorism law, it said.

Although the country proclaimed the defeat of the terror group on its territory in 2017, ISIL cells have remained active and carry out sporadic attacks against the army and police.
A recent U.N. report said government-led counter-terrorism operations have resulted in the deaths of nearly half of ISIL’s senior leaders in Iraq.

ISIL declared a so-called “caliphate” in 2014 after capturing large parts of Iraq.