Lebanese forces have detained a wife and daughter of Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi near the Syrian border, security and military sources say.

The woman was identified as Saja al-Dulaimi, an Iraqi, by a senior Lebanese political source and security official.

A senior Lebanese security official said Baghdadi's wife had been travelling with one of their daughters, contradicting earlier reports that it was his son.

DNA tests were conducted to verify it was Baghdadi's child, the official said.

The Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported she had been detained in coordination with "foreign intelligence".

They were detained in northern Lebanon. Investigators were questioning her at the headquarters of the Lebanese defence ministry.

There was no immediate reaction from Islamic State websites.

Ms Dulaimi was one of 150 women released from a Syrian government jail in March as part of a prisoner swap that led to the release of 13 nuns taken captive by al Qaeda-linked militants in Syria.

The arrest is a blow to Baghdadi and could be used as a bargaining chip against his group, which has captured many foreign, Iraqi and Syrian prisoners and declared a caliphate across territory it has seized in Syria and Iraq.



The Lebanese security forces have waged a crackdown on IS sympathisers in Lebanon and the intelligence services have been extra vigilant on the border crossings.

Over the past few months, they have arrested a number of Islamic militants suspected of staging attacks to expand IS influence in the country neighbouring Syria.

A US-led alliance is seeking to roll back Islamic State's territorial gains in Iraq and Syria, while US President Barack Obama has vowed to "degrade and ultimately destroy" Baghdadi's group, which is seeking to reshape the Middle East according to its radical vision of Islam.

Baghdadi called for attacks against the rulers of Saudi Arabia in a speech purported to be in his name last month.

He said his self-declared caliphate was expanding in Saudi Arabia and four other Arab countries and called for "volcanoes of jihad" the world over in the speech released on November 13.

He was put on the US terrorism watchlist in October, 2011.

There is a $10 million bounty for his capture.

Reuters/AFP