<p>ISTANBUL — A close aide of killed Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been caught in Istanbul, police said Sunday.</p>
<p>The Afghan national, only identified by the codename Basim, was detained in the Atasehir district on the city’s Asian side on Wednesday, according to an Istanbul police statement.</p>
<p>News reports of the joint operation with Turkey’s intelligence agency said the suspect had been involved in helping hide al-Baghdadi in Syria’s Idlib province after the fall of the group in 2019.</p>
<p>Al-Baghdadi was killed in a raid on his Syrian hideout by U.S. special forces in October 2019.</p>
<p>Turkish media published a photograph of a balding, bearded man in a light coat following the arrest and an earlier image, purportedly of the same person, showing a long-haired, heavily bearded man in military fatigues wielding a curved sword.</p>
<p>The Demiroren news agency said Basim was suspected of organizing training for IS while in Syria and Iraq, as well as serving on its decision-making council.</p>
<p>He arrived in Turkey with a false passport and identity card, the agency said.</p>
<p>Turkey regularly detains IS suspects, many allegedly planning attacks in the country.</p>
