The Islamic State extremist group released at least 200 members of the Yazidi minority group after five months of captivity in Iraq, Kurdish military officials said yesterday, adding that most are elderly, infirm prisoners who likely slowed the extremists down.
Peshmerga General Shirko Fatih, commander of Kurdish military forces in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, told reporters that almost all of the freed prisoners are in poor health and bore signs of abuse and neglect.
Three were young children, he added.
Photo: AFP
The extremists transported the captives from the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar, where they had been held for the past five months since the group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant raided their towns last year.
The extremists dropped them off on Saturday at the Khazer Bridge near the Kurdish regional capital of Erbil, Fatih said, adding that they were being held by Kurdish authorities for questioning.
“It probably became too expensive to feed [the captives] and care for them,” Fatih said.
Tens of thousands of Yazidi people fled in August last year when the Islamic State group captured the northern town of Sinjar.
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