Captured Woman Not Islamic State Leader's Wife, Iraqi Officials Confirm

Dec 05, 2014 02:37 AM EST

(Photo : Reuters) A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has made what would be his first public appearance at a mosque in the centre of Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014, in this still image taken from video.

The woman detained in Lebanon ten days ago for travelling with a fake ID is not the wife of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) leader Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi official said on Wednesday.

The said woman was identified instead as the sister of a suspected terrorist held in captive in the country, Iraq's Interior Ministry Spokesman Saad Maan said in a statement.

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Earlier reports of the identity of the woman and the child detained ten days ago have added more confusion to the issue. Both of them were reportedly travelling in Northern Lebanon with fake IDs.

Maan added that the woman identified as Saja al-Dulaimi is the sister of Omar Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi. All-Baghdadi has two wives but none of them is named Saja al-Dulaimi, he explained.

However, Lebanese officials once said that al-Dulaimi is the wife of the ISIL leader and that she was held by Syrian authorities and was freed during a prisoner exchange with the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda branch in Syria.

If the reports about her being the wife of al-Baghdadi were true, she is to be a bargaining tool with the militants that held 20 Lebanese security forces in captive. These forces were captured during a cros-border raid last August.

The bargaining angle makes a lot of sense since the Lebanese government has been pressured by the families of the security forces to do something about the captives.

The woman was also reportedly interrogated and it was supervised by the military prosecutor of Lebanon. Just this Wednesday, a senior Lebanese military official relayed that the woman admitted during the interrogation that she was the wife of al-Baghdadi.

However, the official spoke in anonymity and did not provide more details about the investigation but added that authorities also detained the wife of the senior leader of Nusra Front, Anas Sharkas or Abu Ali al-Shishani.

It is not yet clear why the woman and the child travelled to Lebanon as the ISIL extremists do not control any territory in the country.

Tagscaptured woman, ISIS, ISIL, ISIL leader's wife, Saad Maan, Saja al-Dulaimi