PARIS (Reuters) – Thirty-seven suspected terrorists, including suspected members of Islamic State, have been arrested across east Africa over the last two months, the global police body Interpol said on Monday.
Interpol, which is headquartered in France, said the arrests had been made during November and December during operations conducted jointly with the pan-African police body Afripol.
The arrests come as concerns mount over a possible resurgence of the ISIS militant group, after the ousting of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
On New Year’s Day, fifteen people were killed after a U.S. Army veteran flying an ISIS flag from his truck swerved around makeshift barriers and drove into crowds in New Orleans.
Interpol said the operations in Africa had resulted in the arrests of 17 people, including two suspected ISIS members, in Kenya, and the arrest of a suspected member of ISIS Mozambique in Tanzania.
Others were arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.
“East Africa’s complex landscape, marked by political instability, porous borders, and socioeconomic challenges, continues to provide an environment conducive to terrorist activity,” said Cyril Gout from Interpol.
“These positive results demonstrate the power of international collaboration in the fight against terrorism,” he added.
(Reporting by John Irish and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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