ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi forces rescued several Yezidi Kurdish women from the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS) group in an operation inside the city of Mosul, which has been under the militants’ control since June 2014, Iraq’s defense ministry said. A statement by the ministry on Wednesday said the women were rescued in a secretive three-month operation involving Iraqi intelligence and security forces. “Several Kurdish Yezidi women held as hostages by ISIS were rescued in a special operation in Mosul conducted by the Iraqi intelligence and security forces,” said the statement, which did not give more details. “The operation lasted for three months and it was confidential,” it said. The rescued women were moved out of Mosul to receive medical treatment, according to Iraq’s directorate of intelligence. ISIS fighters went on a rampage of murder, looting, rape and abduction of girls and women after attacking the Yezidi town of Shingal in August 2014. Last September Iraqi Yezidi MP Vian Dakhil told Rudaw that 5,820 Kurdish Yezidi women and girls were still in ISIS hands, after nearly 2,200 were rescued. Mass graves of Yezidis killed in the Shingal massacre are still being unearthed. The bulk of the rescue operations and deal making to get girls rescued has been done by Kurdish authorities or civilians. Kurdish officials have said that hundreds of Yezidis have been rescued or their freedoms bought from ISIS in the last two years. On Monday, at least 19 Yezidis -- mostly women and young girls -- were rescued from ISIS after two years in captivity, a Kurdish official told Rudaw.
