Militant group Islamic State has reportedly executed up to 250 women since it captured the city of Mosul in Iraq, PTI said. The women were killed for allegedly refusing to become sex slaves of IS fighters. A report in London-based Kurdish news agency AhlulBayt said that the militants had begun forcing women to “accept temporary marriage or sexual jihad”. The women faced severe punishments if they refused.

A Kurdistan Democratic Party official told the agency that sometimes the women’s families were also executed if the women refused IS orders. Women have been prohibited from going out in Mosul without being fully covered, and men and women are not allowed to speak in public.

This is not the first such report of violence against women by the IS. In August last year, 19 women were executed for refusing to have sex with IS militants, and in August 2014, around 500 women were kidnapped and sexually abused by IS fighters.