5 Yezidis rescued from ISIS captivity, 4 years after kidnap: official
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Five Yezidis, including a mother and her four children, were released on Monday after enduring four years in ISIS captivity, officials have confirmed.
“The five persons are from Shingal. They had fallen to ISIS on August 3, 2014 when ISIS captured Shingal. They will in the coming days reunite with their family in the Kurdistan Region.”
ISIS militants invaded the Yezidi city of Shingal and its surrounding villages on August 3, 2014. They killed hundreds of men, women, and children and took thousands others captive. Many were later sold as sex slaves and servants.
Another Yezidi woman was rescued from ISIS in Syria on August 4. The group continues to dwindle and lose ground.
According to Khairi Bozani, the Yezidi representative to the KRG’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, 1,193 individuals were slaughtered on the first day of the ISIS attack alone.
To this day, more than 1,100 Yezidis, mostly women and young girls, are still missing.
The predominately Yezidi town of Shingal was liberated by Kurdish Peshmerga forces in November 2015.
A KRG official from the office of kidnapped and rescue affairs told Rudaw the five Yezidis were rescued from the jihadist group in Syria. They will be returned to the Kurdistan Region in the coming days.
“The five persons are from Shingal. They had fallen to ISIS on August 3, 2014 when ISIS captured Shingal. They will in the coming days reunite with their family in the Kurdistan Region.”
ISIS militants invaded the Yezidi city of Shingal and its surrounding villages on August 3, 2014. They killed hundreds of men, women, and children and took thousands others captive. Many were later sold as sex slaves and servants.
Another Yezidi woman was rescued from ISIS in Syria on August 4. The group continues to dwindle and lose ground.
According to Khairi Bozani, the Yezidi representative to the KRG’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, 1,193 individuals were slaughtered on the first day of the ISIS attack alone.
To this day, more than 1,100 Yezidis, mostly women and young girls, are still missing.
The predominately Yezidi town of Shingal was liberated by Kurdish Peshmerga forces in November 2015.