PHOTOS: Ezidi girl rescued after three years of captivity under IS

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdish office tasked with rescuing abducted Ezidis on Thursday announced they had secured the release of a Ezidi girl, three years after she was abducted by the Islamic State (IS).

The Ezidi Rescue Office, based in Duhok Province, in its statement, said that teams managed to locate and free a kidnapped 14-year-old Ezidi girl from the village of al-Wardiya, south of Sinjar (Shingal) mountain.

Ezidis were subjected to atrocities and mass murders at the hands of IS for a number of years after the jihadist group overran 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 reconversion, executed the men, abused, sold, and trafficked girls across areas they controlled in Iraq and Syria.

The statement added that the girl was received at the Iraqi-Syrian border and will be transferred to the Kurdistan Region, reuniting her with her family since the fall of Shingal.

The office did not offer further details on the Ezidi girl and where she was found, but it is likely she was kept in IS-controlled Syrian territory.

Like thousands of other Ezidi girls, she has not seen her family since her abduction in Aug. 2014.

According to the General Directorate of Ezidis in the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs in the Kurdistan Region, the whereabouts of more than three thousands Ezidis remain unknown. Thousands more have been rescued, however.

The UN and a number of Western nations have acknowledged IS committed genocide against the Ezidis. The UN has also called on authorities to work harder to save thousands of Ezidis, including women and children, from the grip of the jihadist group in both Iraq and Syria.

Editing by Nadia Riva