Officials Insist Detained Woman is Baghdadi's Wife as Iraq Denies Claims

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

Lebanese judicial and military sources insisted Wednesday that a woman detained in Lebanon is a wife of Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as Iraq denied the allegations.

“DNA tests have confirmed that the Iraqi woman detained in Lebanon, Saja al-Dulaimi, is a wife of al-Baghdadi,” Turkey's Anatolia news agency quoted a Lebanese judicial source as saying.

“The DNA results of the three children who were accompanying al-Dulaimi turned out to be compatible with al-Baghdadi's DNA samples that were sent by Iraq” to the Lebanese authorities, the source added.

The source also revealed that the children's DNA results matched those of al-Dulaimi.

The woman's arrest in Lebanon was only unveiled on Tuesday. Media reports said the army arrested her more than 10 days ago at a checkpoint on al-Madfoun Bridge in the North.

The driver of the car and her 4-year-old daughter and two younger boys were also arrested, the reports said.

Meanwhile, An Nahar newspaper reported Wednesday that Lebanese investigators have obtained several pieces of evidence that prove that al-Dulaimi is al-Baghdadi's divorcee.

“Her DNA results and those of her daughter Hajar matched al-Baghdadi's DNA samples that were provided by a Western source,” An Nahar added.

“There is also another material evidence that is being kept under wraps pending further investigations and it has to do with a document that was found in her possession,” the newspaper said.

The interrogation of the woman is being supervised by Lebanon's military prosecutor, according to The Associated Press.

A senior Lebanese military official insisted in remarks to the AP that the woman said she was al-Baghdadi's wife during her interrogation.

The official declined to provide more details about the investigation. He said authorities have also detained, separately, the wife of senior Nusra Front leader Anas Sharkas, who is also known as Abu Ali al-Shishani.

The official refused to give further details about the Syrian woman, beyond saying her first name is Alaa.

The Lebanese army has not issued a communique to confirm the arrests.

Earlier on Wednesday, an Iraqi official denied that al-Dulaimi is a wife of al-Baghdadi, noting that she is the sister of a terror suspect being held in Iraq.

Iraq's Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan told the AP that al-Dulaimi is an Iraqi national who traveled to Syria before arriving in Lebanon.

He identified her as the sister of Omar Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi, who is being held in Iraq as a terror suspect.

He added that al-Baghdadi has two wives but neither is named Saja al-Dulaimi.

An Iraqi intelligence official identified al-Baghdadi's two wives as Asmaa Fawzi Mohammed al-Dulaimi and Israa Rajab al-Qaissi, stressing that he does not have a wife with the name Saja al-Dulaimi.

Al-Dulaimi was held by Syrian authorities and freed in a prisoner exchange with the Nusra Front, Syria's al-Qaida branch, earlier this year.

If the woman is indeed al-Baghdadi's wife, she could potentially serve as a bargaining chip with Syria-based militants holding some 27 Lebanese troops and policemen captured in a cross-border raid in August.

Lebanese authorities have been under intense pressure from the families of the captured men to negotiate their release.

Y.R./G.K.

Comments 22
Thumb -phoenix1 03 December 2014, 11:54

Who cares what the Iraqis say, I believe my army, period.

Missing mohammad_ca 03 December 2014, 12:29

"who cares"..well she's Iraqi so they would know better don't you think? Our army is not the knower of all things it's far far from perfect as a matter of fact.

Thumb freedomarch 03 December 2014, 13:05

Some reports here said syrian. Any way good to swap swap.

Thumb _mowaten_ 03 December 2014, 14:55

yesterday's report said that DNA tests confirmed the boy was bag-daddy's son, so who cares what the woman is.
still wondering where they would have gotten bag-daddy's NDA though... i'm guessing the US or iraqi army took samples when he was a prisonner in camp bucca

Missing mohammad_ca 03 December 2014, 16:16

DNA tests on whom? who was he compared against?

Thumb _mowaten_ 03 December 2014, 17:24

can't you read mohammed? I was just saying I wonder where bag-daddy's DNA would have been taken, and it might have been from when he was a prisonner in camp bucca.
that means the kid's DNA, compared to bag-daddy's DNA. got it?

Missing mohammad_ca 03 December 2014, 21:09

Iraq is denying it, you'd think they wouldn't if they were to provide the DNA sample ya zaki? logic, for God's sake, some logic...

Missing mohammad_ca 03 December 2014, 21:10

BTW, none of this is official, the army has not confirmed it.

Thumb -phoenix1 04 December 2014, 15:58

Mohamed, my answer to you, my army is the knower of all things. The fact that our army is doing the job to protect you and me and everyone else means that my trust in it is full and absolute. When you my dear friend join my army and risk your life to protect my dear Lebanon and my dear Lebanese people, then when you say something, I'll always take it in good faith. This is what you've missed you see?

Thumb freedomarch 03 December 2014, 14:43

Probably that iraqi official have no info on another of his marriages outside iraq.

Missing mohammad_ca 03 December 2014, 16:17

I'm not sure you understand how DNA tests work, they need to compare it against someone else to prove paternity...

Missing mohammad_ca 03 December 2014, 16:26

BTW some basic genealogy: It is impossible to determine paternity through relatives for a girl it is only possible for a boy. Also, the army has not put out a statement saying that they have his wife.

Thumb Mystic 03 December 2014, 19:05

texas, I thought you were so sure, this were Baghdadis wife?

Thumb megahabib 03 December 2014, 12:35

She has other family ties to Daash, so she can be used for bargaining anyway.

Thumb freedomarch 03 December 2014, 13:14

Exatly right, as long as she is totally covered no one can tell any way.

Thumb _mowaten_ 03 December 2014, 14:56

lol

Missing mohammad_ca 03 December 2014, 13:08

oh lovely, our army arrested a 4 year old girl...

Missing mohammad_ca 04 December 2014, 02:07

Anonymous this article has been up before that clarification, Maron that's not how we operate otherwise we would be turning into nothing better than the terrorists

Thumb Elemental 03 December 2014, 20:10

I find it ironic because fake ID's and entering Lebanon much in the same way are a HA specialty, as well as fake degrees, fake medications, fake "patriotism" as they take orders from Iran etc etc...

Thumb Tony.Farris 03 December 2014, 20:57

Make her convert to Christianity or else. lol

Thumb freedomarch 03 December 2014, 22:24

Well if not yet please consider me a sunni catholic from the Ja3fari druze sect

Default-user-icon Maron (Guest) 03 December 2014, 22:47

Trade her for our soldiers. If that doesn't work, trade Syrian refugees for our soldiers.