Marry me, quick! ISIS fighters ‘seek brides’ in Iraqi town

Residents of Baiji, an Iraqi town under the control of fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, are trying to keep unmarried women safe from attempts to wed them to the Sunni militants, the UK's Independent reported Sunday.

Residents who spoke to the daily said their worst fear came from ISIS fighters going door to door asking about the numbers of married and unmarried women in the house.

“I told them that there were only two women in the house and both were married,” Abu Lahid, one resident, told the paper.

“They said that many of their mujahedin [fighters] were unmarried and wanted a wife. They insisted on coming into my house to look at the women’s ID cards [which in Iraq show marital status].”

According to the daily, although ISIS says its men have been ordered not to bother local people if they are members of the Sunni community, in many areas the militants are imposing “puritanical social norms.”

The Iraqi military is fighting militants at the country’s largest refinery just outside Baiji, just north of the capital Baghdad.
The Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is facing a growing insurgency by Sunni militants who have gained control of large swathes of territory in the north of the country.

Pressure is mounting on Maliki to form an inclusive national unity government.