Turkey Confirms Arrests Al-Baghdadi’s Sister, Relatives In Syria

Turkish Interior Minister, Suleyman Soylu, has confirmed the arrest of sister of the dead leader of the Islamic State (IS) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and her husband in Syria.

Soylu told reporters that they were captured in Azaz district of Aleppo city in northwestern Syria on Monday.

The Turkish army and Turkey-backed Syrian rebels have been in control of Azaz District since its military offensive in 2016.

“The arrest of al-Baghdadi’s sister is yet another example of the success of our counter-terrorism operations,” tweeted Fahrettin Altun, Turkey’s communications director.

Turkey’s “determination to bring justice to those who seek to terrorize our people and destabilize our region cannot be questioned,” he added.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based watchdog, the daughter-in-law and five grandchildren of al-Baghdadi’s sister were also arrested by Turkey.

Al-Baghdadi was killed in a late-night U.S.-led airstrike in a compound near the village of Barisha in northwestern Syria on October 26.