Turkey arrests sister of slain terrorist Abu Bakr al Baghdadi

Istanbul : The older sister of slain terrorist and ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been arrested in northwestern Syria during a raid on Monday, said a senior Turkish official who called the arrest an intelligence "gold mine."

65-year-old Rasmiya Awad is suspected of being affiliated with the extremist group, the Turkish official said without elaboration.

"This kind of thing is an intelligence gold mine,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government protocols. “What she knows about [ISIS] can significantly expand our understanding of the group and help us catch more bad guys."

Awad was arrested by the Turkey officials during the raid conducted on Monday evening at a trailer container in which she was living with her family near Azaz, in Aleppo Province.

At the time of arrest she was with her husband and five children. 

Last month, Awad’s brother, Baghdadi, an Iraqi from Samarra, was killed in a raid by U.S. troops at an ISIS compound in the nearby Syrian province of Idlib. Video footage of the raid was released on Wednesday by the Pentagon.