Islamic State group releases 200 Yazidis in Iraq who had been held captive for 5 months

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 12, 2015 file photo, Iraqis from the Yazidi minority carry a bed frame on Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) northwest of Baghdad. Kurdish military officials in northern Iraq said, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015, that at least 200 people from the minority Yazidi group have been released from captivity by the Islamic State group. Peshmerga Gen. Shirko Fatih, commander of Kurdish forces in the northern city of Kirkuk, told The Associated Press on Sunday that almost all of the freed prisoners are elderly men and women in poor health. (AP Photo/Seivan Selim, File) (The Associated Press)

Two Yazidi boys, suffering from several infections from mosquito bites while held by the Islamic State group, wait with their mother inside a bus before being driven to the Kurdish city of Dohuk, in Alton Kupri, outside Kirkuk, Iraq, Sunday Jan. 18. 2015. The Islamic State group released about 200 Yazidis held for five months in Iraq, mostly elderly, infirm captives who likely slowed the extremists down, Kurdish military officials said Sunday. Almost all of the freed prisoners are in poor health and bore signs of abuse and neglect. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) (The Associated Press)

A mentally disabled Yazidi man laughs as he is carried to a bus that will bring him to the Kurdish city of Dohuk, after being released by Islamic militants, in Alton Kupri, outside Kirkuk, Iraq, Sunday Jan. 18. 2015. The Islamic State group released about 200 Yazidis held for five months in Iraq, mostly elderly, infirm captives who likely slowed the extremists down, Kurdish military officials said Sunday. Almost all of the freed prisoners are in poor health and bore signs of abuse and neglect. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen) (The Associated Press)

Kurdish military officials in northern Iraq say at least 200 people from the minority Yazidi group have been released from captivity by the Islamic State group.

Peshmerga Gen. Shirko Fatih, commander of Kurdish forces in the northern city of Kirkuk, told The Associated Press on Sunday that almost all of the freed prisoners are elderly men and women in poor health. He said three were young children.

The militants transported them from the northern town of Tal Afar, where they were being held for the past five months after the militants raided their towns last summer. Fatih says the militants dropped them off Saturday at the Khazer Bridge, near the Kurdish regional capital of Irbil. They are now being held by Kurdish authorities for questioning.