IS leader Baghdadi 'raped Kayla Mueller'

Kabul

An American aid worker, who was killed while being held hostage by IS militants, was sexually abused by the group's leader, US officials told ABC news. Kayla Mueller, 26, was repeatedly raped by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. Her family were informed of the abuse in June. Her family was informed of the abuse in June.

"They told us that he married her, and we all understand what that means," her father Carl told the Associated Press.Baghdadi personally took the humanitarian aid worker to the home of another senior IS member - Abu Sayyaf - who was in charge of IS oil and gas until his death in a US special forces operation in May, ABC news reports, citing US officials.

The channel said Baghdadi regularly visited the compound where she was being held and repeatedly assaulted her."Kayla did not marry this man. He took her to his room and he abused her and she came back crying," her mother Marsha said.

Officials said they had obtained information about the abuse from at least two teenage Yazidi girls who were held hostage as sex slaves and found inside the Sayyaf compound at the time of the US attack. Ms Mueller was reportedly held for some time by Sayyaf and his wife, Umm Sayyaf, who were also captured by US Special Forces in May.

At the time, the Pentagon said Umm Sayyaf was suspected of being an IS member and of being complicit in the enslavement of a young Yazidi woman who was rescued in the raid.

Hundreds of young women and girls - many of them Yazidis captured in northern Iraq - are believed to be held as sex slaves by IS militants in areas under their control.The Yazidi girls provided intelligence used by the US to interrogate Sayyaf's wife, who "spilled everything" about several IS leaders and their whereabouts, a counterterrorism official told ABC.

Mrs Mueller said that her daughter had acted as a "mother figure" to the other detainees. "Kayla tried to protect these young girls," she added.Umm Sayyaf was handed over to the Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq last week to face trial.

The information that has come to light appears to contradict speculation that Ms Mueller was treated well in captivity, as a letter written in 2014 and smuggled out to her family implied.In it, she said she had been treated with "utmost respect + kindness".