The Islamic State (IS) has freed more than 200 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority community, whom it had held captive for months.
"We received 227 Yazidis, including women and children," said a Kurdish Peshmerga officer in the northern Iraqi province of Kirkuk, General Vesta Rasul, according to AFP.
The Yazidis are a Kurdish ethno-religious community. There are between 50.000 and 150.000 of them in Iraq.
They profess a monotheistic faith in which there are elements of Sufism, but also many more ancient religions - Zoroastrianism, Mithraism, Manichaeism, etc.
Their religion is not considered a branch of Islam.
Since capturing large swaths of Iraq and Syria, IS has relentlessly persecuted the Yazidis, both as part of the Kurdish community and as non-Muslims.
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