ANKARA: Turkey has captured a wife of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, more than a week after the former Daesh leader killed himself during a raid by US special forces.
“The United States said Baghdadi killed himself in a tunnel. They started a communication campaign about this,” Erdogan said.
“But, I am announcing it here for the first time: We captured his wife and didn’t make a fuss like them. Similarly, we also captured his sister and brother in law in Syria,” he said in a speech at Ankara University. He gave no details.
A senior Turkish official said earlier this week that Turkey had captured Al-Baghdadi’s sister, her husband and daughter-in-law, and hoped to gain intelligence from them about Daesh, although Ankara has not said what knowledge they may have had about the group’s operations.
Al-Baghdadi rose from obscurity to lead the ultra-hard-line group and declare a caliphate, holding sway over huge areas of Iraq and Syria from 2014-2017 before Daesh’s control was wrested away by a US-led coalition.
World leaders have welcomed his death, but they and security experts warned that the group, which carried out atrocities against their enemies and religious minorities s, remained a security threat in Syria and beyond.
Last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said two of Al-Baghdadi’s wives had also been killed at the site of last month’s raid.
The group said a successor to Al-Baghdadi, identified as Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Quraishi, had been appointed. A senior US official said last week that Washington was looking at the new leader to determine where he came from.
Erdogan says Turkey has captured Al-Baghdadi’s wife in Syria
Erdogan says Turkey has captured Al-Baghdadi’s wife in Syria
- Turkish president said they had captured Daesh leaders wife but didn't make a fuss about it
- Turkish official said earlier this week that Turkey had captured Al-Baghdadi’s sister, her husband and daughter-in-law
US announces ‘large-scale’ strikes against Daesh in Syria
- CENTCOM said operation ordered by President Donald Trump
- Launched in response to the deadly Dec. 13 Daesh attack in Palmyra
WASHINGTON: US and allied forces carried out “large-scale” strikes against the Daesh group in Syria on Saturday in response to an attack last month that left three Americans dead, the US military said.
“The strikes today targeted Daesh throughout Syria” and were part of Operation Hawkeye Strike, which was launched “in direct response to the deadly Daesh attack on US and Syrian forces in Palmyra, Syria” on December 13, US Central Command said in a statement on X.
CENTCOM said the operation was ordered by President Donald Trump following the ambush and is aimed at “root(ing) out Islamic terrorism against our warfighters, prevent(ing) future attacks, and protect(ing) American and partner forces in the region.”
The statement continued: “If you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice,” adding that US and coalition forces remain “resolute in pursuing terrorists who seek to harm the United States.”
The statement did not note whether anyone was killed in the strikes. The Pentagon declined to comment on more details and the State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
About 1,000 US troops remain in Syria, while Syria has been cooperating with a US-led coalition against Daesh, reaching an agreement late last year when President Ahmed Al-Sharaa visited the White House.
* With Agencies
