KIRKUK, Iraq

Daesh has released 216 Ezidi captives, most of whom are elderly people, Iraqi officials said.

"The (released) group was held captive for more than seven months and has reached a safe place in Kirkuk," Khairi Buzani, general director of Ezidis affairs at the northern region of Iraq’s government, said.

The victims, which included children and the elderly were released in southern Kirkuk's Meryembeg area. People with severe injuries were taken to hospitals in Kirkuk for treatment, the sources added.

Daesh had stormed Sinjar area, located 124 kilometers west of Mosul, before the peshmerga forces, backed by the U.S.-led international coalition, managed to break the militant group's siege on the area. 

The group of freed Ezidis, which included a number of Christians, looked tired as they reached Meryem Beg after four days of traveling from an area near Mosul.

Analysts said Daesh released the captives because most of them were elderly, sick and handicapped and they were becoming a burden for the terrorist group.

Daesh had previously released 198 Ezidis in Kirkuk in January.

In 2014, Daesh had captured a large number of Ezidis in Sinjar, including women who were then allegedly subjected to slavery in the northern Iraqi province of Ninawah.