Islamic State holding estimated 3,500 slaves in Iraq, says UN

Islamic State militants have enslaved an estimated 3,500 people in Iraq, primarily women and children from the Yazidi community, a UN report says.

The report says the terror group has committed atrocities in Iraq that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

“This report lays bare the enduring suffering of civilians in Iraq and starkly illustrates what Iraqi refugees are attempting to escape when they flee to Europe and other regions,” said the UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein. “This is the horror they face in their homelands.”

Isis has held large swaths of Iraqi territory since it rampaged across the border from Syria in a lightning offensive in the summer of 2014, conquering much of Anbar province and the plains of Nineveh as well as the city of Mosul.

In recent months the group has faced setbacks, losing the cities of Ramadi and Sinjar, the homeland of the Yazidis, who are considered by the militants to be infidels whose death or enslavement is divinely sanctioned.

But pro-government forces face an uphill struggle in evicting Isis from Mosul, the largest population centre under the militants’ control, which remains the crown jewel of their self-proclaimed caliphate.

The fighting has fuelled large-scale displacement and civilian deaths as well as sectarian bloodletting that threatens Iraq’s existence as a state once the crisis has ended.