Turkey capture slain IS leader al-Baghdadi’s wife

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey has captured a wife of the slain leader of the Islamic State (IS) group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday.

Erdogan made the announcement while delivering a speech in the capital of Ankara but gave no other details. He did not say when or how the woman was captured or identify her by name.

A senior Turkish official, however, said the woman was among a group of 11 Islamic State suspects detained in a police operation in Turkey’s Hatay province, near the border with Syria, on June 2, 2018.

The official identified her as Asma Fawzi Muhammad al-Qubaysi and said she was al-Baghdadi’s first wife. A subsequent DNA test confirmed that another suspect who identified herself as Leila Jabeer, was al-Baghdadi’s daughter, the official said, adding that the IS leader’s DNA sample was supplied by the Iraqi government.

The detainees were being held at a deportation center in Turkey, the official said. He provided the information on condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.

According to the official, al -Baghdadi’s wife “volunteered a lot of information about Baghdadi and inner workings” of the IS. The information obtained led to a series of arrests elsewhere, he said.

Al-Baghdadi was known to have four wives, the maximum number he can have at one time under Islamic law.

“We caught his wife, but we didn’t make a fuss about it. I am announcing this today for the first time,”

Erdogan said, while criticizing the United States for leading a “communications campaign” about Baghdadi’s slaying.

The IS leader blew himself up during an Oct. 26 raid by US special forces on his heavily fortified safe house in the Syrian province of Idlib.

Erdogan’s announcement came just days after Turkish forces captured al-Baghdadi’s elder sister, identified as Rasmiya Awad, in the town of Azaz, in Aleppo province in northwestern Syria.