Iraqi security officials said they feared ISIS militants fleeing Baghouz during an attack by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) would infiltrate Iraq and regroup into sleeper cells.

The officials who refused to reveal their names warned there are some 5000 to 7000 IS members in Iraq who have hidden themselves in mountains and far-reaching areas.

According to 3 American and Iraqi military and intelligence officials more than 100 IS members have gone from Kurdish-controlled Syria into Iraq, adding that the militants have taken foreign currency and light weapons into Iraq.

Meanwhile Yahya Rasul, Iraqi Army Spokesman, confirmed to the AP that IS members have infiltrated into Iraq from Syria, connecting the situation to the pressure the Syrian Kurds have put on the IS in eastern Syria.

An increase in Iraqi forces on the border was apparent. “Mortar and artillery positions now line what was previously used as farmland for local inhabitants whose sheep, cows and chickens watch warily as armoured vehicles and men in desert sand uniforms ply the narrow road,” reported Al-Monitor website.

“We have thermal cameras and we are targeting them every night with artillery between around 9 p.m. and 3 a.m.,” an Iraqi major told Al-Monitor.

Meanwhile an unidentified Iraqi intelligence official told the Associated Press that the SDF handed Iraqi authorities more than 150 IS fighters. The fighters were reportedly the first batch of some 500 IS militants to be transferred to Iraq.

The US-led coalition said “the most hardened” fighters remain in Baghouz but the SDF did not rule out that some IS militants may have left the Syrian village with civilians. In the past, IS militants escaped from SDF prisons or made deals with Kurdish militiamen to secure safe passage.

Concerns over the regrouping of IS militants are not limited to infiltration through the Syrian border.

“In Iraq’s remote villages and even large towns where IS once held sway, those same fighters come back after dark when Iraqi forces go back to barracks. They assassinate those who dare to stand against them and with the Iraqi government,” reported Kimberly Dozier, senior national security correspondent at the Daily Beast.

“They send a message that the Iraqi control is surface deep and they remain the power to be challenged or joined.”

Meanwhile tribal leaders in Iraq bordering provinces with Syria have warned about the increase of IS moves and stated that IS sleeping cells have threatened village officials and tribal militias and ordinary people over cooperation with governmental forces.

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