Iraq

IS Fighters Deported To 'Safe Place' In Iraq

Library picture over Iraq (Picture: Crown Copyright).

More than 150 Iraqi fighters for so-called Islamic State have been handed over to Baghdad, an Iraqi security official has said.

The militants were previously in the custody of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Force (SDF), which is said to have imprisoned more than 20,000 Iraqi citizens suspected of being members of IS.

The SDF and US President Donald Trump have called for countries to take back their citizens who joined IS.

However, so far few want to and Ilham Ahmed, co-chairwoman of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the SDF, is reported as saying that the group needed help:

"We can't do it alone, it is very difficult," Ms Ahmed said.

"We don't have any support from anywhere and we only have limited resources if we are to keep them in the camps.

"We need specialist help in order to try and rehabilitate them. It is a big burden on us."

SDF soldiers move through the debris of a war torn street in Raqqa (Picture: PA).

Iraq is one country that has decided to take back its citizens who joined IS.

Earlier this month the republic’s Prime Minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, said Baghdad would take back all Iraqi IS militants and their families.

This week’s handover was the largest deportation of militants from Syria so far.

The SDF is battling IS for control of the final sliver of land in Syria controlled by the group and a tent camp - home to roughly 300 IS militants and their families - in the village of Baghouz is currently under siege.

Civilian evacuations have taken place but it is not known whether the 150 militants handed over to Iraqi authorities came from the village or were captured at an earlier date.