More than 200 Yazidis, among them elderly men and women, children, and people with mental disabilities, crossed out of ISIL-held territory on Saturday after the militant group released them following their capture in August.
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People from the minority Yazidi sect waiting inside a truck along a road on the outskirts of Kirkuk. Ako Rasheed/Reuters -
A boy from the Yazidi sect looks on after being delivered to safety in the country’s Kurdish north. Ako Rasheed/Reuters -
The released captives were met by Kurdish forces and officials. Ako Rasheed/Reuters -
Doctors tend to Yazidi people at the health centre in Altun Kopri, located half way between the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk and Erbil. Safin Hamid/AFP Photo -
According to officials, the group was moved from Mosul via Hawija and freed at the Khaled entrance to Kirkuk on Saturday. Ako Rasheed/Reuters -
Those freed – some in wheelchairs, others leaning on walking sticks – looked tired and distraught as they waited to give blood samples. Ako Rasheed/Reuters -
Kurdish peshmerga forces drove back Islamic State militants in northwestern Iraq last month, breaking a long siege of Sinjar mountain where thousands of Yazidis had been stranded for months. Safin Hamid/AFP Photo -
But many Yazidi villages remain under ISIL control. Ako Rasheed/Reuters -
Yazidi men eating at the health centre in Altun Kopri where those released by ISIL have been receiving medical attention. Safin Hamid/AFP Photo
Set free by ISIL after months in captivity - in pictures
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