1 | WASHINGTON -- American hostage Kayla Mueller was repeatedly forced to have sex with Abu Bakr Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group, according to accounts provided to U.S. intelligence officials. |
2 | Mueller, whose death was reported in February, was held for a time by Islamic State financier Abu Sayyaf and his wife, known as Umm Sayyaf. |
3 | Al-Baghdadi took Mueller as a "wife," repeatedly raping her when he visited, according to a Yazidi teenager who was held with Mueller and escaped. |
4 | The 14-year-old talked to U.S. officials, who corroborated her account with other intelligence and passed it on to her parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller, in June, according to a family spokeswoman, Emily Lenzner. |
5 | A U.S. official confirmed the account, first reported by London's Independent newspaper. |
6 | The official was not authorized to be quoted by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. |
7 | Abu Sayyaf was killed in a Delta Force raid of his Syrian compound in June, which resulted in a treasure trove of intelligence about the Islamic State group. |
8 | Umm Sayyaf gave extensive information to American interrogators and has been turned over to the Iraqi Kurds for trial. |