Iraqi forces rescue Ezidi girl from Islamic State in Mosul

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SINJAR — An Ezidi girl kidnapped in 2014 by Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Sinjar was rescued and will reunite with her family on Sunday (July 9).
The 22-year-old Ezidi girl who has been identified as Najma Saeed Ismael was freed from captivity by Iraqi forces in the war-torn city of Mosul, an Ezidi representative Hadi Baba Sheikh told NRT.

“She was rescued in Mosul’s Faruq neighborhood by Iraqi security forces,” he added.

Her parents are believed to be in ISIS captivity whether in Iraq or Syria.

ISIS has hounded ethnic and religious minorities in northern Iraq since seizing the city of Mosul in June 2014, killing and displacing thousands of Christians, Shabaks and Turkmen who lived for centuries in one of the most diverse parts of the Middle East.

Proclaiming a theocratic caliphate based on a radical interpretation of Sunni Islam, ISIS has tried to erase the Ezidis’ identity by forcing men to choose between conversion to Islam or death, raping girls as young as nine, selling women at slave markets, and drafting boys to fight.

The Ezidis, thought to number several hundred thousand in Iraq before they came under attack by ISIS, are an ethno-religious group whose ancient religion has elements of Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam.

(NRT)

http://www.nrttv.com/EN/Details.aspx?Jimare=15490