"We arrested Ali Ahmed Jassim, who belongs to a terrorist cell and who escaped from Basra prison," said Brigadier General Hassan Nuri, head of the security directorate in Kurdistan's Sulaimaniyah province.

"We carried out the arrest operation on the basis of detailed information," he said, adding that Jassim was detained on Monday.

The group had escaped the prison in the southern port city Basra on January 14.

Police mounted a major dragnet, searching nearby houses and establishing new checkpoints.

Two days later, authorities said only one of the prisoners had been captured.