BAGHDAD, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Iraq has repatriated 112 children born to Azerbaijani families affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) militant group, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
Ahmed al-Sahaf, spokesman of the ministry, said in a statement that the repatriated children had been held with their convicted mothers imprisoned in Iraq for joining the extremist IS.
The repatriation was carried out through continuous coordination and cooperation between the Iraqi ministry and the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its embassy in Baghdad, the statement said.
So far, the Iraqi authorities have sent a total of 940 children from IS-affiliated families of various nationalities to their countries, of whom were 248 Azerbaijani children, the statement added.
Thousands of foreign fighters joined the IS which established a self-proclaimed caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
However, after the defeat of the IS in both countries, hundreds of IS loyalists were killed or captured.
The Iraqi judiciary has conducted trials for thousands of suspected IS militants including hundreds of foreigners.
