BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government said on Monday that two women being held in Iraq are German citizens, including a 16-year-old girl who had joined Islamic State, and that it was still trying to confirm the nationality of two more women.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr told reporters that German consular officials had confirmed the citizenship of the first two women during a meeting last Thursday. They are due to meet the two other women on Monday, she said.
"Our embassy in Baghdad was able to visit two of the women on July 20," Adebahr told a regular government news conference. Further details about the other two could only be released after consular visits, she said.
Adebahr identified one of the Germans as Linda Wenzel, a 16-year-old from the state of Saxony who ran away from home last year to join Islamic State. Wenzel told German media in an interview that she regrets joining the jihadist group and just wants to come home to her family.