ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish counter-terrorism forces foiled a potential suicide bombing in Erbil, the Kurdistan Region's Security Council Agency announced on Monday.

It said three Arab nationals from Diyala province had attempted to carry out a suicide attack, but were detained before the deed.

Several explosive belts were seized together with the suspects.

In a statement released late Monday the Kurdish security council said, “The special teams of the Kurdistan Region security council managed to foil an ISIS terrorist act and detain three terrorists who had Erbil as their terrorist plan,”

The council said that the detainees had confessed to being sent on the mission by the Islamic State (ISIS).

“Hazim Muhammad Dawoud Mansour al-Jibouri [one of the detainees] had brought with him a suicide vest and six magnetic bombs from Silemanbag area and through Kirkuk to Erbil,” read the statement.

“Khalaf Ismail Khalaf Ubaid al-Jibouri had also been trained to wear the vest and blow himself up at the target,” it read.

Rudaw