Kurdistan Region Security Council ID: 8058413 
 
 A 16-year-old Swedish teen has been rescued from ISIS by Iraqi/Kurdish troops in Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said Tuesday. 
 
 
 
 The girl, identified as Marlin Stivani Nivarlain, was rescued by counterterrorism forces near the ISIS-controlled city of Mosul. 
 
 
 
 Nivarlain, from the city of Borås in southern Sweden, traveled to Syria after being “misled” by an ISIS member, the statement said. 
 
 Counter-Terrorism Forces (CTD) rescued a young Swedish National, Ms Marlin Stivani Nivarlain, from #ISIL near Mosul. — KR Security Council (@KRSCPress) ID: 8058335 
 
 The KRG said she was rescued on Feb. 17 after “we were called upon by Swedish authorities and her family to help rescue her.” 
 
 
 
 “She’s currently in the Kurdistan region. We are working with Swedish authorities to allow her to return home as quickly as possible,” the statement said. 
 
 In an interview with Kurdistan 24, Nivarlain said she traveled to Syria with a boyfriend but said she didn’t know who ISIS was before she arrived. 
 
 “First we were good but then he started to look at ISIS videos and speak about them and stuff like that. Then he said he wanted to go to ISIS and I said, ‘OK, no problem,’ because I didn’t know what ISIS means, what Islam is — nothing.” 
 
 The couple travelled from from Sweden in late May 2015 and made their way across Europe by bus and train until reaching the Turkish border province of Gaziantep. They later crossed into Syria. 
 
 Kurdistan 24 / Via kurdistan24.net ID: 8067191 
 
 Once they arrived in Syria, ISIS militants moved them by bus with other men and women to the city of Mosul in neighboring Iraq. Here they lived in a house with no electricity or running water. 
 
 
 
 “I didn’t have any money either — it was a really hard life,” she said. “When I had a phone I started to contact my mom and I said, ‘I want to go home.’ 
 
 “In Sweden we have everything, and when I was there, we didn’t have anything.” 
 
 ||||| IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi Kurdish troops have rescued a Swedish teenager from the Islamic State group near the extremist-controlled city of Mosul, the Kurdish government said Tuesday. 
 
 A statement from the regional government said the rescue operation by the Kurdish anti-terrorist forces took place on Feb. 17 near Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. 
 
 The statement identified the young woman by name, saying she is a 16-year-old from the Swedish town of Boras who "was misled" by an IS member in Sweden to travel to Syria and later to Mosul. 
 
 It also said the Swedish authorities and the teenager's family had contacted the Iraqi Kurdish government and asked for help in locating and rescuing the girl from the IS. 
 
 The young woman is currently in Iraqi Kurdish territory and is being "provided the care afforded to her under international law," the statement said, adding that she will be "transferred to Swedish authorities to return home once necessary arrangements" are made. 
 
 The statement provided no details on the rescue operation and did not say whether the teen was mistreated while with the Islamic State group. The Associated Press does not identify minors who may have been victims of abuse or may be accused of crimes. 
 
 Iraqi Kurdish officials contacted by the AP in Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq, declined to provide more details on the case. 
 
 Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul was the first major city to fall into the hands of Islamic State militants during their blitz in June 2014, when the group swept across vast areas in the country's north and west. 
 
 To this day, Mosul remains under control of IS as Iraqi forces, aided by airstrikes that are being carried out by the U.S.-led international coalition, are battling along as well as Shiite militiamen and Sunni pro-government fighters, are battling to reclaim ground lost to the militants. Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces are fighting IS militants to the north and east of the city. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press Writer Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad contributed to this report. ||||| ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - A teenage Swedish girl being held by Islamic State militants in Iraq was rescued in a raid by Kurdish special forces last week, the autonomous region’s security council said in a statement on Tuesday. 
 
 A teenage Swedish girl who was rescued after being held by Islamic State militants in Iraq is seen in this undated handout photo. Social Media 
 
 The 16-year-old traveled from Sweden to Syria last year and later crossed into Iraq, where she was rescued near the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul on Feb. 17 by forces from the Kurdish counter terrorism department, the statement said. 
 
 The Kurdish security council identified the rescued teenager as coming from the Swedish town of Boras and said she had been “misled” into making the journey to Syria by an Islamic State member in Sweden. 
 
 “The Kurdistan Region Security Council was called upon by Swedish authorities and members of her family to assist in locating and rescuing her from ISIL,” the statement read. 
 
 The teenager is currently in the Kurdistan region and will be handed over to Swedish authorities so she can return home once necessary arrangements are made, it added. 
 
 Security services estimate that hundreds of Western men and women have left home to join Islamic State since they overran large parts of Iraq and Syria in June 2014. 
 
 Earlier this month, a mother who took her 14-month-old son to Syria to join Islamic State fighters was jailed for six years by a British court.
– A Swedish girl has been freed from the clutches of the Islamic State in Iraq. Kurdish special forces rescued the 16-year-old Wednesday during a raid near Mosul, report Reuters and the AP. The teen—whom BuzzFeed identifies as Marlin Stivani Nivarlain—was "misled" by an ISIS member in Sweden and first traveled to Syria from the Swedish town of Boras, the Kurdish government says, adding Swedish authorities and family asked for help in rescuing her. Officials say she'll be "transferred to Swedish authorities to return home once necessary arrangements" are made.