Turkish forces on Monday arrested the elder sister of the late ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, with a senior Turkish official saying the arrest is a “gold mine” for intelligence against the terror group, according to The Associated Press.
Al-Baghdadi’s 65-year-old sister, Rasmiya Awad, was reportedly arrested Monday evening in a trailer container near the town of Azaz in the Aleppo province in northwestern Syria, where she was living with family members.
{mosads}She was living with her husband, daughter-in-law and five children at the time of her arrest, and all other adults are currently being interrogated, a senior Turkish official told the AP.
“This kind of thing is an intelligence gold mine. What she knows about [the Islamic State] can significantly expand our understanding of the group and help us catch more bad guys,” the official said, according to the AP.
The arrest comes as the U.S. and allies are working to determine what the leadership of ISIS looks like without al-Baghdadi at the helm. One of his top aides was killed in northwestern Syria shortly after al-Baghdadi, with the group naming a lesser-known successor and confirming al-Baghdadi’s death days later.