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Iraqi Kurds rescue Swedish girl from IS militants

Xinhua, February 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Iraqi Kurdish forces rescued a Swedish teenager from Islamic State (IS) militants near the IS-controlled city of Mosul, said a Kurdish government statement Tuesday.

A statement from Kurdistan regional government's security council said that "Kurdistan's anti-terrorism special forces carried out an operation on Feb. 17 at an IS-held area near Mosul" located about 400 km north of Iraq's capital, Baghdad.

The statement identified the teenager as Marlin Stivani Nivarlain, a 16-year-old girl from the Swedish town of Boras, who was misled by an IS member in Sweden and headed to Syria before being transferred to Mosul.

Swedish authorities and the young girl's family had contacted the Iraqi Kurdish government to help locate the girl and rescue her from IS militants, according to the statement.

It also said that the young girl is now in Iraqi Kurdistan region and will travel back to Sweden as soon as the necessary arrangements are finalized.

Mosul is the capital of the province of Nineveh. It has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces surprisingly abandoned their posts and weapons and fled the city. Endit