Children, elderly held captive for over 6 months freed by militants

oge okonkwo

January 19, 2015 5:56 PM

Most of those released prisoners were children and the elderly

Islamic militants have freed about 250 Yazidis held captive for more than six months in Iraq, reports from a local official say.

Most of those released Saturday were children and the elderly, said Saman Jabari, the Kurdistan Democratic Party leader.

Once they were freed, they walked up to a Peshmerga checkpoint southwest of the city of Kirkuk, according to Jabari.

They are now under the care of Kurdish authorities.

Yazidis are among Iraq's smallest minorities. They are of Kurdish descent, and their religion is considered a pre-Islamic sect that draws from Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism.

One of the oldest religious communities in the world, they have long suffered persecution, with many Muslims referring to them as devil worshippers.

The militant group ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic State, invaded Iraq's north last year, forcing hundreds of thousands of minorities from their homes.

oge okonkwo