ERBIL
The Islamic State militants have freed a Kurdish Yazidi family of four, after the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) paid a ransom to the extremist group.
The family had been held captive by Islamic State (IS) militants since August 2014 in the town of Sinjar, northern Iraq. They were set free on Tuesday and the family has reached Duhok Province in the Kurdistan Region safely, and are now staying in a refugee camp in the city.
A Kurdish official, who declined to be identified, told BasNews on Tuesday that the Yazidi family is made up of a woman and three children. They were imprisoned by jihadists in Tal Afar, west of Mosul.
The source said that the family is now staying in the Khanke refugee camp, western Duhok.
He explained that the family were captured by IS insurgents in August last year, and were regularly moved during their incarceration.
According to the source, the family was freed by IS militants as part of an agreement, in which an official from the KRG paid a $20,000 ransom. The source refused to reveal further details.
On 4 August 2014, IS militants took control of the majority Yazidi town of Sinjar in Nineveh province, northern Iraq. Thousands of Yazidis fled to Mount Sinjar and the Kurdistan Region, while many other Yazidi women were kidnapped by the IS insurgents and sold as sex slaves.
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