LEBANON HAS DETAINED a wife and young son of Islamic State group chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed “caliph” of the brutal jihadist organisation, security and military sources said.

The pair were detained by military intelligence 10 days ago near the town of Arsal close to the border with Syria, a security source told AFP.

The woman is a Syrian national, and her son is around eight years old, according to a military source who confirmed the arrest.

It is not known how many wives and children Baghdadi has, but Islamic law allows men to marry four women and IS has encouraged its members to wed more than once.

Lebanese daily As-Safir, which first reported the arrest, said it was carried out “in coordination with foreign intelligence agencies”.

It said the woman was travelling on a false passport, without saying where the document purported to be from.

The security source said the wife and child were taken to the defence ministry headquarters in Yarze, just outside the capital Beirut, “where investigations were continuing.”

He said the arrest had been kept secret while security arrangements were made.

© – AFP 2014

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