Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Two relatives including the uncle of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group, were detained on Sunday after a security operation near the city of Samarra, state-owned Iraqi television cited a security source as saying.

“A group from the Regiment Special Assignments was able to arrest Baghdadi’s uncle, named Saleh Ibrahim Abdulmomen and niece’s husband Dhiya Nouri Sadoun,” the security source from the southern Dhi Qar governorate’s police said.

“The detainees are among the top level of ISIS commanders in Samarra,” the source added.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Oda al-Jughaifi from the western province of Anbar said on Sunday that a new military operation was launched to capture the Anbar province’s al-Baghdadi district from ISIS militants.

On Saturday, the United States and its allies staged nine airstrikes on ISIS targets in Iraq and four in Syria, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement.

The attacks in Iraq hit ISIS tactical units, buildings, fighting positions, a rocket system and a facility where improvised explosive devices were made, the statement said.

The strikes in Iraq were near the ISIS stronghold city of al-Raqqa over in Syria and destroyed tanks and a bunker.

*Al Arabiya