Baghdadi’s sister and family caught
WASHINGTON: Turkey captured the sister of dead Islamic State leader Abu Bakr alBaghdadi yesterday in the northern Syrian town of Azaz, a senior Turkish official told Reuters, and is interrogating her husband and daughterinlaw who were also detained.
Rasmiya Awad (65) was detained in a raid near Azaz, the official said, referring to a Turkishcontrolled Syrian town near the border. When captured, she was also accompanied by five children.
‘‘We hope to gather a trove of intelligence from Baghdadi’s sister on the inner workings of Isis,’’ the official said.
Little independent information is available on Baghdadi’s sister and Reuters was not immediately able to verify if the captured individual was her.
Baghdadi killed himself last month when cornered in a tunnel during a raid by United States special forces in northwestern Syria. IS, in an audio tape posted online on Friday, confirmed its leader had died and vowed revenge against the US.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s communications director said the woman’s capture was evidence of Turkey’s determination to fight against IS.
‘‘The arrest of alBaghdadi’s sister is yet another example of the success of our counterterrorism operations,’’ Fahrettin Altun wrote on Twitter early yesterday.
‘‘Much dark propaganda against Turkey has been circulating to raise doubts about our resolve against Daesh,’’ he wrote, using another name for Islamic State.
‘‘Our strong counterterrorism cooperation with likeminded partners can never be questioned.’’
Baghdadi had risen from obscurity to lead the ultrahardline group and declare himself ‘‘caliph’’ of all Muslims, holding sway over huge areas of Iraq and Syria from 201417 before IS’ control was wrested away by USled coalition forces including Iraqis and Syrian Kurds.
Last week, the group said a successor to Baghdadi identified as Abu Ibrahim alHashemi alQuraishi had been appointed.
World leaders welcomed Baghdadi’s death, but they and security experts warned that the group, which carried out atrocities against religious minorities and horrified most Muslims, remained a security threat in Syria and beyond. — Reuters