Report: Iran detains Islamic State group leader near Tehran

Semi-official news agency says unnamed suspect was in contact with 300 IS members, planned attacks on Shiites

By AP 13 September 2017, 4:21 pm

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The body of a suspected terrorist, at background left, lies on the ground while police control the scene at the shrine of late Iranian revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, just outside Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, June 7, 2017 (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian news outlet reported that authorities have arrested a leader of the Islamic State extremist group.

The Wednesday report from semi-official YJC.ir said the suspect was in contact with 300 IS members and was planning attacks during Shiite ceremonies across the country next month.

Members of the elite Revolutionary Guards detained the suspect in a town near Tehran, according to the report, which did not identify the suspect. It said he spent a night in the Tehran neighborhood of Dolatabad, an Iraqi community, after arriving in the country.

Iran sometimes announces the detention of IS-linked extremists and the defusing of plots to carry out attacks.

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