Ezidi woman reunites with her family after decade of ISIS abduction

(MENAFN) After more than a decade in captivity, an Ezidi woman abducted by ISIS in 2014 has finally returned to her family in northern Iraq, marking the end of an 11-year ordeal that spanned both Iraq and Syria.

Dima Emin Salih, now 24, was taken from the village of Kocho in the Sinjar district during the extremist group's August 3, 2014 assault, which left thousands of Ezidis dead, displaced, or enslaved.

Upon returning to Duhok, in the Kurdish Regional Government-controlled area, Salih recounted her suffering, calling it “the worst moments of my life.”

"I was torn away from my family"

Salih, who was still a child when ISIS militants attacked Kocho — a village located roughly 18 kilometers (11 miles) south of Sinjar — said that eight members of her family were taken that night. The captives were then separated and relocated to unknown places.

“I was torn away from my family,” she said. “I experienced the worst moments of my life there. ISIS treated us extremely cruelly. Life there was very bad, and I was subjected to all kinds of torture.”

She shared that after spending some time in Iraq, she was transferred to the Iraq-Syria border region. For years, she lived in isolation, with no way to contact her loved ones. Her time in captivity, she said, was filled with fear, despair, and daily suffering.

"They came and ruined our lives"

Her return marks a rare story of survival and reunion, highlighting the deep scars left by the ISIS campaign against the Ezidi community and the enduring trauma of those still missing or recovering from their captivity.

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