An Iraqi official denied on Wednesday that a woman detained in lebanon is a wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group, adding that she is the sister of a terror suspect being held in Iraq.
The statement by Iraq’s Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan Ibrahim adds to the confusion surrounding the identity of the woman and child who were detained about 10 days ago in northern lebanon travelling with a fake ID.
lebanese officials said the woman, Saja al-Dulaimi, is believed to be the wife of the reclusive IS leader who was held by Syrian authorities and freed in a prisoner exchange with the Nusra Front, Syria’s al-Qaida branch, earlier this year.
The interrogation of the woman was being supervised by lebanon’s military prosecutor. It was unclear what would have brought the woman and child to lebanon, where IS controls no territory and enjoys only small support in some predominantly Sunni Muslim areas.
Ibrahim told The Associated Press that al-Dulaimi, an Iraqi national who traveled to Syria before arriving in lebanon, is not al-Baghdadi’s wife.