Iraq Crisis: Isis Admits To Enslaving and Selling Yazidi Women and Children

Isis militants have admitted to enslaving and selling hundreds of Yazidi women and children during the jihadists' offensive.

In the English language Dabiq magazine, the militants' latest propaganda tool, the Sunni extremist group said the women and children, who belong to the Kurdish ethno-religious community, were "divided" among the Islamist fighters according to "Shariah" law.

"The Yazidi women and children were then divided according to the Shariah among the fighters of the Islamic State who participated in the Sinjar operations," the organisation said in the fourth edition of the magazine.

"The enslaved Yazidi families are now sold by the Islamic State soldiers."

An article in the 70-page magazine goes on to justify the practice by backing it with theological quotes and boasts that this is the largest enslavement since the early days of Islam.

The women and children have been held hostage by the extremist group ever since the Sinjar mountainous region was overrun by the militants trapping thousands of Yazidis, a heretical sect in Iraq.

Though there were many reports of the militants sexually assaulting the women and enslaving them, this is the first time the Isis itself is admitting to it.

The Isis announcement has come at a time when Human Rights Watch said hundreds of Yazidi men, women and children are being held captive in makeshift detention centres across Iraq and Syria.

The rights group has released a video detailing how the minorities are being ill-treated in Iraq.