Iraqi Kurdish forces rescued a 16-year-old Swedish girl from Islamic State militants near the city of Mosul last Wednesday, Kurdish officials say. A statement by the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) said the girl was from the town of Boras. She was “misled by an [IS] member in Sweden to travel to Syria and later to Mosul”, it added.
A spokeswoman for the Swedish foreign ministry told a Swedish newspaper that it had no information about the case. The KRSC statement, which named the girl and included a photograph of her, said it had been called upon by Swedish authorities and members of her family to assist in locating and rescuing her from IS, which has controlled Mosul since 2014. “She is currently in the Kurdistan Region and is provided the care afforded to her under international law,” it added.
“She will be transferred to Swedish authorities to return home once necessary arrangements are put place.”
The girl was 15 years old and pregnant when she ran away from Boras last May with her boyfriend and travelled to Syria, Swedish media reported. The girl was seized by IS in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo in August, after which she was moved to territory controlled by the jihadist group. In mid-August, the Swedish foreign ministry confirmed it had been told a Swedish minor was in Syria, and said it was in contact with family members.
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