KRG office rescues four Ezidi teenagers kidnapped and trained by IS

The Yezidi (Ezidi) Rescue office on Sunday revealed they had freed four more Kurdish Ezidis who were kidnapped by the Islamic State (IS) and kept captive for the past few years.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Yezidi (Ezidi) Rescue office on Sunday revealed they had freed four more Kurdish Ezidis who were kidnapped by the Islamic State (IS) and kept captive for the past few years.

“The rescued teenagers have been reunited with their families in the Kurdistan Region,” Hussein al-Qaidi, director of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Office of Ezidi Abductees in Duhok, told Kurdistan 24.

“Their ages range from 15 to 17,” Qaidi said. “IS brainwashed them, taught them their extremist ideology, and militarily trained them to carry out suicide attacks.”

He explained they were rescued on Saturday from within Syria but did not offer any further details about their release.

“They are from the villages of Kocho, Tal Qassab, Tal Banat, and Gir Ozeir,” Qaidi added.

Ezidis were subjected to atrocities and mass murders at the hands of IS for a number of years after the jihadist group overran Sinjar (Shingal) in Aug. 2014, forcing hundreds of thousands of Ezidis to flee their homes. Others were not as lucky and remained stranded in the war zone.

IS is known for having subjected women to sexual slavery, kidnapped children for forced conversion, executed the men, abused, sold, and trafficked girls across areas they controlled in Iraq and Syria.

“One of the four rescued Ezidi teenagers is the brother of Jilan, the woman who committed suicide in 2014 in Mosul while being held captive,” in fear of being raped by members of the jihadist group.

Qaidi stated that since 2014, IS had kidnapped 6,417 Ezidis and so far, the KRG’s office has been able to free 3,280. The whereabouts of the others remain unknown.

“The KRG office will continue to search for and liberate the remaining Ezidis, wherever they may be held in this world,” he concluded.

Editing by Nadia Riva