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In this undated file photo, soldiers from the Kurdistan Regional Government, the Iraqi army and the U.S. man 22 trilateral checkpoints in the Combined Security Area, disputed lands between the Arabs and the Kurds that cut through 3 provinces in Iraq's northeastern region.

In this undated file photo, soldiers from the Kurdistan Regional Government, the Iraqi army and the U.S. man 22 trilateral checkpoints in the Combined Security Area, disputed lands between the Arabs and the Kurds that cut through 3 provinces in Iraq's northeastern region. (Teri Weaver/Stars and Stripes)

Umm Sayyaf, the wife of a key Islamic State commander who was captured after a U.S. operation in Syria that killed her husband, has been transferred to the Iraqi government, the Pentagon announced late Thursday.

Umm Sayyaf was detained for months after a U.S. raid on their Syrian compound. Since her capture, Umm Sayyaf had been described as cooperative with U.S. forces.

The May 15 raid killed Islamic State ringleader Abu Sayyaf, who ran much of the Islamic State’s oil revenues generated by captured Syrian refineries.

A young Yazidi woman held by the Sayyafs also was freed during the raid.

Umm Sayyaf is suspected of having a role in kidnapping Kayla Mueller, the 26-year-old American aid worker held hostage by the Islamic State for more than a year before she was killed during an airstrike on the compound in which she was held.

U.S. prosecutors had been preparing charges against Umm Sayyaf in connection with Mueller's kidnapping. It's unclear what her transfer to the government of Iraq would do to that effort.

“The decision to transfer Umm Sayyaf to the Iraqi government was based on the U.S. government determination that the detainee’s transfer would be appropriate with respect to legal, diplomatic, intelligence, security and law enforcement consideration,” the Pentagon said in a statement late Thursday announcing the transfer.

Umm Sayyaf was handed over to the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government’s ministry of the interior.

copp.tara@stripes.com Twitter: @taracopp

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