Kurdish authorities in northeast Syria on Wednesday handed over 148 Uzbek women and children linked to ISIS extremist group to diplomats from the Central Asian country for repatriation, officials said.
In total more than 300 Uzbeks were due to be sent home, spokesman Kamal Akef told AFP, as the Kurds look to transfer away thousands of foreign extremists trapped in camps following the defeat of the ISIS “caliphate” by US-backed forces.
Hundreds of Uzbeks are believed to have joined militants fighting in Iraq and Syria including ISIS.
Suspected ISIS fighters from the country who surrendered or were caught fleeing the extremists’ last redoubt are still being held in Kurdish-run jails.
ALSO READ: ISIS suspects sent by US from Syria to Iraq
The women and children on Wednesday arrived in the Kurdish town of Qamishli on large white buses, an AFP correspondent said.
From behind the vehicle’s blue drapes, some women pointed their index fingers to the sky in a gesture used by Islamists.
The group, including some 90 children, would be taken by plane to Russia’s air base in Syria, from where they would then be transported to Uzbekistan, Akef said.
A second batch of Uzbek women and children would be sent in the coming days, he said.
Syria’s Kurds have long urged the international community to support the repatriation of the foreign ISIS fighters and their relatives they are holding.
Many of their countries of origin have been reluctant to repatriate them or put them on trial at home.
The largest repatriation effort by a European country so far saw Kosovo in April take back 110 of its nationals from Syria - mostly the wives and children of ISIS fighters.
In May Central Asian Kazakhstan said it had repatriated 231 of its nationals, mostly children.
-
Iraq hands over 188 Turkish children of suspected ISIS members
Iraqi authorities handed over 188 Turkish children of suspected ISIS members to Turkey on Wednesday at Baghdad airport, where they boarded a plane and ... Middle East -
France: Around 450 ISIS-linked nationals detained in Syria
Around 450 French nationals linked to ISIS are being held by Kurds or detained in refugee camps in northeastern Syria, the French foreign minister ... Middle East -
Bosnia brings back, detains ISIS fighter from Syria
A Bosnian national suspected of fighting for ISIS extremist group in Syria has been transferred to Bosnia and put in detention, the Balkan ... Middle East -
Syria Kurds return 25 Yazidis freed from ISIS to Iraq
Syrian Kurds on Saturday repatriated 25 women and children from Iraq’s Yazidi minority after freeing them during the final push against ISIS ... Middle East