BAGHDAD - An Iraqi official is denying that a woman detained in Lebanon is a wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group.
Wednesday's denial comes a day after Lebanese authorities said they are holding a woman believed to be al-Baghdadi's wife. They said she was detained for travelling with a fake ID and had herself claimed that she is the reclusive extremist leader's spouse.
Iraq's Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan Ibrahim said that the woman is Saja Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi, an Iraqi national who traveled to Syria before arriving in Lebanon.
Ibrahim says she is the sister of Omar Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi, who is held in Iraq as a terror suspect.
Ibrahim says al-Baghdadi has two wives but neither is named Saja al-Dulaimi.