The wife of slain Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi revealed “a lot of information” about the jihadist group’s “inner workings” after she was captured last year, a Turkish official said Thursday, according to AFP.
The official said that Baghdadi’s spouse identified herself as Rania Mahmoud but was in fact Asma Fawzi Muhammad Al-Qubaysi.
She was said to be the “first wife” of the ISIS leader, who was killed in a US special forces raid in Syria last month.
The woman was arrested on June 2, 2018 in the province of Hatay, near the Syrian border, along with 10 others, including Baghdadi’s daughter, who identified herself as Leila Jabeer.
The official said Thursday the family links were confirmed using a DNA sample of Baghdadi provided by Iraqi authorities.
“We discovered (the wife’s) real identity pretty quickly. At that point, she volunteered a lot of information about Baghdadi and the inner workings of ISIS,” the official was quoted as having said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed on Wednesday that his country captured Baghdadi’s wife, noting that Turkey “didn’t make a fuss” of the capture like the US did with the operation in which Baghdadi was eliminated.
Earlier this week, Turkey captured Rasmiya Awad, the sister of Baghdadi, as well as her husband and daughter-in-law.
Baghdadi was eliminated in late October in a US operation in Syria after years of conflicting reports about his fate.
ISIS last week named Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as the jihadist group’s new leader.