Islamic State Leader ‘Raped’ American Hostage

American hostage Kayla Mueller was repeatedly forced to have sex with Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group, according to accounts provided to U.S. intelligence officials. Intelligence agencies corroborated her account and American officials passed it on to her parents in June. The official was not authorised to be quoted by name.

Abu Sayyaf, a Tunisian, was killed in a US special forces raid on his Syrian compound in June, which American officials said reaped vital intelligence about the Islamic State group.

Two Yazidi girls – members of a small Iraqi minority group that have been among those persecuted by ISIS – who also were held in Sayyaf’s compound gave the U.S. government information about what happened there.

The Mueller family released a heart-wrenching letter she wrote to them from captivity in which she said she had been “treated w/ the utmost respect + kindness”. The family spokeswoman noted that Friday would have been Mueller’s 27th birthday.

Republican Senator John McCain, from the Muellers’ home state of Arizona, has called on the Government to explain why Sayyaf’s widow was not extradited to the United States to stand trial. The FBI told the family that Kayla had been tortured since the beginning of her captivity in 2013.

Ms Mueller’s mother said: “Kayla tried to protect these young girls”. “She was like a mother figure to them”.

By the time the Yadizi escapee reported the situation to Delta Force commandos in Iraq, Kayla had been moved, her parents were told.

Last week, the U.S. announced that Umm Sayyaf was handed over to Kurdish authorities in Irbil, who are known for lightning-swift justice.

Mueller had begged him to let her tag along because she wanted to do relief work in the war-ravaged country.

Asked about Mueller on NBC on February 1, President Obama said, “Well, what we can say is that, as has been true of all the hostages, that we are deploying all the assets that we can working with all the coalition allies that we can to identify her location”.

Troops found evidence the hostages had been there recently, including writings on the cell walls and hair believed to be Mueller’s, one U.S. official said.