‘We Know Where He Is’, Says Trump As US Hunts For Baghdadi Successor

US President Donald Trump has said that America now has its eye on a new Islamic State leader, telling the Economic Club of New York that “we know where he is.” Trump didn’t mention the name of the new target, but he is likely referring to Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the man who has been named to replace Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as head of the terror group.

Trump announced on October 27 the death of Baghdadi in a US special forces raid in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, carried out in coordination with Kurdish militants. Baghdadi had led ISIS since 2014 and was the world's most wanted man. US Army special operations forces chased al-Baghdadi into a dead-end tunnel on a compound where he had been hiding, and he set off a suicide vest he was wearing.

The next day Turkey said that its intelligence services and military had had "intense" contact with their US counterparts on the night of the operation. Long suspected of allowing the jihadists to cross its border to join Syria after the start of the conflict that has torn the country since 2011, Turkey, hit by several attacks committed by the IS, joined the anti-jihadist coalition in 2015.

Earlier, Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan announced that slain Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s wife has been captured in Syria by his forces. A senior official said Turkish forces in northern Syria have detained a sister of al-Baghdadi, who was killed in a US raid.

"Turkey has captured Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's sister" in a raid near the town of Azaz, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told news agency AFP. He named the woman as Rasmiya Awad, and said she was born in 1954.The woman was accompanied by her husband, her daughter-in-law and five children.

"The three adults are being interrogated at this time", the official said. He added that the arrest could be "an intelligence gold mine."What she knows about ISIS can significantly expand our understanding of the group", help us catch more members and "help Turkey to better protect itself and the rest of Europe from terrorists", he said, using another acronym for IS.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the arrests.