BAGHDAD, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi authorities on Monday said that 2,897 family members of suspected Islamic State (IS) militants are held in a confinement near the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi military said.
A statement from the Joint Operations Command (JOC) said that the Iraqi joint forces received 1,573 local women and children, and 1,324 foreign ones from the Kurdish forces, known as Peshmerga. They detained those IS family members in Shandoukha detention east of the town of Ayadhiyah near the city of Tal Afar, which is located some 70 km west of Mosul.
The detainees are from different nationalities. "They are of European, Asian, Arab, African and South American nationalities," the statement said.
"The detainees were transferred to a safe place with better services in TelKeif area, some 18 km northeast of Mosul, under the control of the Iraqi forces and the relevant (relief and security) committees," the statement added.
On Aug. 10, Jasim al-Attiyah, undersecretary of the Minister of Displacement and Migration, told Xinhua that the Iraqi authorities detained some 1,400 foreign wives and children of suspected IS fighters at a camp near Mosul.
"The security forces are interrogating the detainees in a detention camp in Hammam al-Alil, some 50 km south of Mosul, to determine the identities of their countries as many of them no longer had their original documents," Attiyah said.
On Aug. 31, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared full liberation of the city of Tal Afar and surrounding areas, including Ayadhiyah, from the extremist IS militants.
