Hundreds of Yazidi women who were once forced into sexual slavery by the Islamic State (ISIS) have taken up arms and are plotting to get revenge on the terror group who destroyed their lives.
The women now known the "Force of the Sun Ladies" are reportedly ready to fight the ISIS in Iraq and defend their families and children.
"Now we are defending ourselves from the evil; we are defending all the minorities in the region," Capt. Khatoon Khider told Fox News.
Speaking from the unit's makeshift base in Duhok, Iraq, she added: "We will do whatever is asked of us."
According to Khider, 123 Yazidi women with ages ranging from 17 to 37 have undergone training and taken their place alongside the Kurdish Peshmerga forces as they prepare for a looming assault on the terrorist army's base in Mosul.
She said 500 are awaiting training.
"It's important to us to be able to protect our dignity and honour," a 19-year-old "Sun Lady" named Mesa told Fox News. "My family is very proud; they encouraged me to join."
"I'm very proud to protect my people... And after all that has happened to us Yazidis, we are no longer afraid," she added.
The Yazidi population once numbered 650,000 in Iraq, nearly all on the northern Nineveh Plain. But ISIS genocide campaign to purify Iraq of non-Muslims led to the slaughter of thousands and displacement of at least 200,000, Fox News reported.
During the 2014 siege of Mt. Sinjar, the Yazidi people were brutalised by the terror group. Of the reported 5,000 taken prisoner by the militants, some 2,000 women have escaped from the ISIS stronghold. But the rest remain in captivity and are still suffering from the horrific abuses of the black-clad terrorist army.
Back then, Khider recalled that "women were throwing their children from the mountains and then jumping themselves because it was a faster way to die."
Women taken as captives were ordered to convert to Islam, subjected to forced marriages and repeatedly raped. Several escaped after being sold off to low-level fighters, while others were ransomed back to their families or ordered killed because they are too old to be sold, the report said.
The proposal to have a specialised all-female Yazidi, said Khider, was prompted by the women's determination to fight back against ISIS thugs who abducted, raped or murdered thousands of women minorities in Mount Sinjar.
She hopes that in forming the force, the women will be able to protect themselves and inspire other minority groups to follow suit.
"Our elite force is a model for other women in the region. We want everyone to take up weapons and know how to protect themselves from the evil," according to Khider.
Last Nov. 13, the women wilfully stepped into the line of fire as a support force to the Peshmerga to take back their hometowns and villages from the ISIS occupation.
The new unit engaged in direct combat and also helped clear streets and buildings rigged with explosives, reports said.
