Around half of the Yazidis kidnapped by the Islamic State group three years ago are still missing, Iraqi Kurdish officials say.
In 2014, IS jihadis killed thousands of Yazidis in Sinjar and kidnapped thousands of women and girls from the religious minority to abuse as sex slaves.
Kurdish fighters backed by the US-led coalition against IS captured Sinjar from the jihadis in November 2015 before Iraqi security forces took control of the region in October.
A top official with the ministry of religious affairs of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq says that some 6,417 Yazidis were abducted by the jihadists from August 3, 2014.
As of December 1, 2017, only 3,207 of them have been rescued or managed to flee their captors, says Khairi Bozani.
The remaining 3,210 Yazidis — including 1,507 women or girls — are still either held by the jihadis or considered missing, he tells AFP.
Yazidi women carrying their children on January 1, 2015 (Courtesy of Nareen Shammo)
— AFP
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