Erdogan announces al-Baghdadi's child captured

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced
Thursday that Turkish security services have detained a child of the eliminated
leader of the Islamic State terrorist organization, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
"A DNA test confirmed that [the child is
al-Baghdadi’s]. They [al-Baghdadi’s arrested family members - TASS] remain in
custody in a Turkish deportation center. The Justice Ministry will deliver
relevant decisions in their regard," Erdogan underlined.
The Turkish leader's comments were his second effort
in as many days to publicize his country's push to catch IS members who were
close to al-Baghdadi. Turkey is facing criticism that its recent military
offensive to drive Syrian Kurdish fighters from northeast Syria would allow for
an IS resurgence.
"All of al-Baghdadi's inner circle is mostly
targeting our country and these people are looking for ways to settle in our
country or to come to our country," Erdogan told reporters.
Erdogan and Turkish officials revealed Wednesday
that Turkish police detained one of al-Baghdadi's wives and a daughter last
year.
A Turkish official said that they were among a group
of 11 IS suspects detained in a raid in southern Turkey on June 2, 2018. Police
identified the wife as Asma Fawzi Muhammad al-Qubaysi. The official said she
was the first wife of al-Baghdadi, who is known to have four wives. A
subsequent DNA test confirmed that a suspect who identified herself as Leila
Jabeer was al-Baghdadi's daughter, the official said.
This week, Turkish authorities said they captured
al-Baghdadi's elder sister, Rasmiya Awad, her husband, daughter-in-law and five
children in the town of Azaz, in Aleppo province in northwestern Syria. The
region is administered by Turkey following a previous military incursion that
was launched in 2016.
Erdogan said that the suspects were being kept in
detention centers in Turkey while the Turkish Justice Ministry would decide how
to handle their cases.
Al-Baghdadi blew himself up during an Oct. 26 raid
by U.S. special forces on his heavily fortified safe house in the Syrian
province of Idlib. The raid was a major blow to his extremist group, which has
lost territories it held in Syria and Iraq in a series of military defeats by
the U.S-led coalition and Syrian and Iraqi allies.