Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's ex-wife was reportedly among 13 Islamists freed in Lebanon Tuesday in a prisoner swap.
Saja Dulaimi and the prisoners released in the border town of Arsal in exchange for the release of 16 servicemen captured by militants from the Al-Qaeda-aligned Al-Nursra Front on the northeast border over a year ago. The Qatar-brokered swap followed months of negotiations.
Included in the exchange were Dulaimi's five-month-old baby girl who was born in prison and her 10-year-daughter, believed to have been fathered by al-Baghdadi. Both remained with Dulaimi during her incarceration.
Speaking to satellite TV network Al Jazeera shortly after her release in Arsal, Dulaimi she intended to go to Turkey with her current husband, a Palestinian, and start a new life.
"I am Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's ex-wife. We have been divorced for over six years now. I will head to Beirut and plan on leaving for Turkey," she said, quoted by Al-Jazeera.
Dulaimi was arrested in November 2014 by Lebanese security forces in northern Lebanon, on suspicion of belonging to a "terrorist group".
Officials say she was married to Baghdadi for just three months in 2009, yet may have been in a relationship with him since 2005.
