Iraq Says Woman Detained by Lebanese Army Is Not Wife of Islamic Leader

Iraqi authorities have said that a woman, detained by the Lebanese military on Tuesday and believed to be a wife of the Islamic State leader, is actually the sister of a person sentenced to death for bombings in Iraq.

MOSCOW, December 3 (Sputnik) — The woman, detained by the Lebanese military on Tuesday, is not a wife of the Islamic state leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Reuters reports, citing Iraqi Interior Ministry.

"The one detained by Lebanese authorities was Saja Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi, sister of Omar Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi who is detained by authorities and sentenced to death for his participation in… explosions," Brigadier General Saad Maan, a spokesman for Iraq’s Interior Ministry said, as quoted by the news agency.

Iraqi authorities have identified al-Baghdadi’s wives as Asmaa Fawzi Mohammed al-Dulaimi and Esraa Rajab Mahel al-Qaisi. "There is no wife with the name of Saja al-Dulaimi," Saad Maan stated.

Previously, Saja al-Dulaimi was detained in Syria, but released in March in exchange for a group of nuns, held captive by al-Nusra Front militants. The woman comes from a family of known radicals. Her brother received death sentence for his involvement in bombings in Basra and al-Bathaa. Her sister tried to carry out a suicide attack in Irbil.

However, the Lebanese military still unofficially maintains that al-Dulaimi is or used to be married to al-Baghdadi, according to BBC.

On Tuesday, reports emerged that the Lebanese military had detained a wife and a young child of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who had tried to enter Lebanon with forged documents.