By Rafat Zrari ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Around 100 kidnapped children are being held hostage by Islamist militants in a Mosul orphanage, sources inside the city told Rudaw. Multiple sources in the city reported that about 45 Yezidi and 50 Shiite children are being held at Dar al-Baraim orphanage in Mosul’s Zuhir quarter. One of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for his safety, said Islamic State (IS) extremists brought the Yezidi and Shiite children to the orphanage after the group overran the city of Talafar in June and the town of Shingal in August. The extremists took hundreds of women, girls and children. “The place is being closely guarded by six IS militants,” said the source. The orphanage is said to be one of the biggest in the city run by IS. Ten local Mosul children were originally sheltered there. The orphanage is run by five local women who worked at the facility before IS took over Mosul in June.
