Kurdish forces rescue Swedish girl from Islamic State
The pregnant 16-year-old left Sweden with an IS member, going first to Syria, then Mosul. The rescue took place in the caliphate’s capital. The Swedish government has not yet commented the case.
Erbil (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Kurdish troops rescued a 16-year-old girl from Sweden held in Mosul.
The city in northern Iraq has been held by the Islamic State (IS) group for almost two years and serves as the capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate.
In a statement, the Kurdistan Regional Security Council (KRSC) yesterday said that the girl had been "misled" by an ISIS member in Sweden to first travel to Syria and then onwards to Mosul.
The girl, whose photo appears in the statement, was rescued on 17 February.
An anonymous Kurdish source told the AFP news agency that the rescue operation had taken place in secret in Mosul without clashes with IS gunmen.
According to Swedish media, the girl is from Borås. She was 15 at the time and pregnant and left with her boyfriend for Syria.
The Swedish government said it had no information about the case, but it has previously said that up to 300 Swedes are believed to have travelled to the region to fight alongside ISIS. Of these, 120 have returned home.
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