DHAKA: Several dozen Yazidi women kidnapped by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) jihadists in Iraq have been taken to Syria, forced to convert and sold into marriage to militants.

A monitoring group said Saturday, reports The Straits Times.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based NGO, said it had confirmed that at least 27 Yazidi women had been sold for around US$1,000 each to ISIS fighters.

The group said it was aware that some 300 Yazidi women had been kidnapped and transported to Syria by the jihadists, but it had so far documented the sale into marriage of 27.

‘In recent weeks, some 300 women and girls of the Yazidi faith who were abducted in Iraq have been distributed as spoils of war to fighters from the Islamic State,’ a statement said.

BDST: 2116 HRS, AUG 30, 2014