Kurdish special forces rescue teenage Swedish girl from Islamic State

Reuters
A teenage Swedish girl who was rescued after being held by Islamic State militants in Iraq is seen in this undated handout photo. Social Media

ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - A teenage Swedish girl being held by Islamic State militants in Iraq was rescued in a raid by Kurdish special forces last week, the autonomous region's security council said in a statement on Tuesday. The 16-year-old travelled from Sweden to Syria last year and then crossed the border into Iraq, where she was rescued near the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul on Feb. 17 by forces from the Kurdish counterterrorism department, the statement added. The Kurdish security council identified the rescued teenager as coming from the town of Boras and said she had been misled into making the journey to Syria by an Islamic State member in Sweden. "The Kurdistan Region Security Council was called upon by Swedish authorities and members of her family to assist in locating and rescuing her from ISIL," the statement read. The teenager is currently in the Kurdistan region and will be handed over to Swedish authorities so she can return home once necessary arrangements are put place, it added. (Reporting by Isabel Coles; Editing by Dominic Evans)