The battalion was founded last year by women who were held captive and tortured by the Islamic State (ISIS / Daesh / ISIL / IS) terrorist group. So this is a deeply personal military calling.
"“I came here to fight for my country and our women who are still held captive by Daesh (acronym for ISIS),” says Enas Khairo Omar, a Yazidi fighter with the Sun Girls. “I also want to avenge my dear sister who was killed by Daesh armed members and I am personally ready to fight anywhere in Kurdistan and we do not fear them anymore.”"
The battalion has 142 members and works under the wing of the peshmerga, the Kurdish fighting force in Iraq.
The women have been trained to use light and medium weapons.
The Sun Girls provided support to frontline peshmerga earlier this year during the battle to retake Sinjar.
They didn’t directly take part in the fighting, though the Kurdistan Regional Government says the women are more than ready for that now.
Sun Girl fighter Nadia says their duties are “guarding day and night.”
Their military camp headquarters is based in Sunoni district and they are being trained to carry out patrols in Sinjar and the surrounding villages.
“We volunteered to carry a weapon alongside the peshmerga to never live this kind of injustice and humiliation again.”
ISIS murdered, kidnapped, or displaced thousands of Yazidis were murdered, kidnapped when the militants overran their communities in the north-west of Iraq in August 2014.
Many of the women were kept as sex slaves. An estimated 3,200 Yazidis are still in ISIS captivity in Syria, AP reported.
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