Iraqi arrested in Finland for war crimes

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A former Iraqi soldier suspected of war crimes during the battle for Tikrit has been arrested in Finland, Finnish police said on Friday.

The alleged offences took place when the 23-year-old man was fighting in the Iraqi army as it retook the city from the Islamic State group in 2015, a police spokesman told the MTV channel.

The arrest is the fourth of Iraqis in Finland on similar grounds.

A police official, Ari Karvonen, said on Twitter a hearing in the case would take place at a court in Tampere in southwestern Finland on Monday.

A 29-year-old man was also arrested in November 2015 for suspected war crimes in Iraq although police have not indicated on which side he had been fighting.

Then in December, 23-year-old twins were also arrested on suspicion of taking place in a massacre of hundreds of soldiers in Tikrit by the Islamic State group in 2014.