Turkey handed over al-Ethawi, who revealed whereabouts of ISIL leader: Minister

ANKARA

Ismael al-Ethawi, a close associate of ISIL leader Abu Bakr-Baghdadi who killed himself in a U.S. raid last month, was arrested by Turkish authorities and handed over to the Iraqis, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Nov. 18

“He disclosed the whereabouts of Baghdadi”, Çavuşoğlu said, speaking at the Turkish Parliament.

Al-Baghdadi blew himself up during an Oct. 26 raid by U.S. Special Forces on his heavily fortified safehouse in the Syrian province of Idlib.

“Ethawi gave valuable information which helped the Iraqi multi-security agencies team complete the missing pieces of the puzzle of Baghdadi’s movements and places he used to hide,” Reuters earlier quoted one of the Iraqi security officials as saying.

“Ethawi gave us details on five men, including him, who were meeting Baghdadi inside Syria and the different locations they used,” he told Reuters.

The minister also said some countries have not informed Interpol about the ISIL fighters, a meeting with the agencies officials in Washington revealed. “There is confusion in the lists. We need to be in better cooperation from now on,” he stated.

Turkey has extradited some 7,700 ISIL members to their countries of origin, the minister said, noting that Ankara has issued a travel ban for 70,000 others.