Red Cross says has access to IS families held near Mosul

GENEVA - 26 October 2017: The Red Cross confirmed on Thursday it had access to more than 1,300 foreign wives and children of suspected Islamic State militants.

The families are being detained by Iraqi forces near Mosul.

More than 300 of the families came from Turkey, many others from former Soviet states, such as Tajikistan, Azerbaijan and Russia, according to preliminary figures from the Iraqi army.

"We can confirm have access to those 1,300 and are visiting them," Patrick Hamilton, International Committee of the Red Cross deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, told a news briefing in Geneva.