More than 80 children have arrived in Tajikistan from Iraq where their parents were sentenced for joining the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) and other militant outfits, Tajikistan's foreign ministry said online Wednesday (May 1st).
Eighty-four children, all Tajik citizens, had been "forced to join the ranks" of the militant groups after their parents were recruited, according to the statement on the ministry's website.
They returned on a special flight from Baghdad to Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe on April 30th, it added.
In February, Tajikistan's foreign ministry said it was seeking the repatriation of 75 children marooned in Iraq where 43 Tajik women are serving jail sentences for extremism-related crimes.
Repatriating the jailed women would be far more difficult, Tajik foreign minister Sirodjidin Mukhriddin admitted at the time.
