BAGHDAD, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces received Saturday a second batch of 180 Islamic State (IS) militants captured by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in neighboring Syria, a security source told Xinhua.
"The Iraqi army received from SDF up to 180 terrorists from Daesh (IS) group, who are Iraqi nationals," an officer from al-Jazira Operations Command in Iraq's western province of Anbar, told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
"The terrorists were transferred in a convoy of trucks to one of the Iraqi army's headquarters in the town of al-Qaim, near the Iraqi Syrian border," said the officer, whose command is responsible for the security of western part of Anbar and the borderline with Syria.
The Iraqi army, border guards and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces participated in securing the road of the convoy from the border point to the military base, where the militants will be interrogated, he added.
The handover process between Iraqi forces and SDF has been carried out through cooperation between the Iraqi army and the Iraqi intelligence service, according to media reports.
On Thursday, the SDF handed over a total of 150 IS militants to al-Jazira command after the battles of liberating the last IS stronghold in Baghouz, which was the last IS-held area in the eastern Euphrates River region in Syria's eastern Deir al-Zour province.
