BERLIN: A German girl, who ran away from home shortly after converting to Islam, has been found in Iraq, prosecutors said Saturday.
The 16-year-old teenager, only identified as Linda W. in line with German privacy laws, is getting consular assistance from the German Embassy in Iraq, said prosecutor Lorenz Haase from the eastern German city of Dresden.
Haase wouldn't confirm media reports that the teenager from Pulsnitz in eastern Germany had been fighting for Daesh in Mosul.
"Our information ends with the girl's arrival in Istanbul about a year ago," he told The Associated Press, adding that further details about her whereabouts in the last year were part of an investigation.
Several female foreign Daesh fighters were detained by Iraq's military in Mosul recently, but Haase could not confirm that the German girl was part of that group.
Earlier this week, Iraqi officials said they had arrested a foreign woman they believe is German in Mosul's Old City. They said she had been recruited by an Arab Daesh member through social media. But they did not identify the woman as Linda W.
Photos of a disheveled young woman in the presence of Iraqi soldiers went viral online last week, but there were contradicting reports about the girl's identity — some said it was Linda W., while others identified her as either a Chechen Daesh fighter or a Yazidi girl.
Hundreds of Germans, among them several girls and young women, have in recent years left the country to join Daesh in Syria and Iraq. While some have been killed in battle and suicide bombings, and others have returned back to Germany, there is also a large number that have been unaccounted for, security officials here say. Many of them were radicalized via social media. Local newspapers reported last year that Linda W., who is from the small town of Pulsnitz near Dresden, was also in touch with Daesh members online before she ran away from home last summer. She started to cover her hair and wear long gowns before she disappeared from her family's home. Her mother later found a copy of the girl's plane ticket to Turkey under a bed, media reported.
In a different case, a French woman captured earlier this month in Mosul with her four children is facing possible prosecution in Iraq for allegedly collaborating with Daesh, in a test case for how governments handle the families of foreign fighters now that the extremists are in retreat.
The woman, believed to be in her 30s, was arrested July 9 along with her two sons and two daughters in a basement in Mosul's Old City, according to the Iraqi intelligence officials.
Two Iraqi intelligence officials said on Wednesday that the woman is being investigated in Baghdad and could face terrorism charges for illegally entering Iraq and joining Daesh, and that the French government wants the children handed over to France.
![]()
German runaway girl who converted to Islam found in Iraq
German runaway girl who converted to Islam found in Iraq
Turkish border region feels economic fallout from Iran
- Turkiye shares a 550-kilometer border with Iran, 300km of which flank Van province
- The city of Van has traditionally offered escape and relaxation for Iranian tourists
VAN, Turkiye: As vice president of the chamber of commerce in the eastern Turkish city of Van, Fevzi Celiktas’s job is to boost the local economy. But he has one major problem: his neighbors.
“We have some of the most feared countries in the world right on our doorstep: Iraq, Syria, and Iran,” he said.
“This greatly complicates our development.”
Celiktas is not indifferent to the fate of Iranians who cross to the Turkish side of the border after the ruthless repression of protests in January.
But the collapse of their economy and currency, which sparked the popular uprising, is being felt acutely in the province.
Turkiye shares a 550-kilometer border with Iran, 300km of which flank Van province, with the main pedestrian border crossing of Kapikoy just a 90-minute drive from the provincial capital, also called Van.
The latest crisis is another blow to the struggling economy in this region of 1.1 million people which lies at the eastern end of Anatolia.
Perched on the eastern shores of Lake Van and surrounded by snow-capped mountains, the city of Van has traditionally offered escape and relaxation for Iranian tourists.
Visitors come to shop, enjoy the local bars or take out boats on Turkiye’s largest lake, which is also the second-largest in the Middle East.
“Iranian tourists are our main clientele,” said Emre Deger, head of Van’s tourism professionals association, whose own hotel has seen occupancy rates decline year after year.
Even though winter is the low season, a third of its rooms are usually occupied, he explained.
“But currently, all the hotels are empty or at 10 percent of capacity at best,” he added.
‘For the Internet’
For eight to 10 days after the crackdown on Iranian protesters when there was an Internet blackout, the flow of visitors “completely dried up,” Deger said.
“Those who came were just here for the Internet,” he added.
Every morning when the Kapikoy crossing opens, a few dozen travelers arrive in the cold, wearily boarding buses or taxis headed for Van.
Apart from a handful of students and the odd few with long-term plans outside of Iran, not many are prepared to speak, quickly scurrying off to discreet hotels where they keep to themselves.
“Most even hesitate to go out to get food,” said Deger, who is waiting for March 21 when Iranians mark Nowruz, Persian New Year, to see if the tourists will return.
One Iranian woman in her 30s from the northwestern city of Tabriz said she understood the decline in visitors.
“There’s no middle class left in Iran. We’re all at the bottom, the very bottom,” she said, without giving her name.
“Everyone is poor.”
Back in Iran, she used to work in insurance, but now has a job at an elegant café in downtown Van.
“In the whole of January, I saw maybe two Iranians here,” she said.
‘Our money is worthless’
“Two years ago, when you came to Turkiye with 5 or 10 million rials ($4-$8), you were fine. Now you need at least 40 or 50 million rials. Hotels, food, everything has become more expensive for us.
“Our money is worthless now.”
The monthly salary she earned in Iran would barely last three days in Van today, she added.
“Our customers used to fill entire suitcases with clothes (to take home). But it’s very quiet now,” said Emre Teker in his clothing store.
Celiktas also blamed US and European sanctions for crippling Iran’s economy — and Van’s.
“The Van bypass still isn’t finished after 18 years of construction,” he said. “It’s become a joke, sometimes written on the back of trucks: ‘May our love be like the Van bypass and never end’.”
If a country faces trade restrictions for decades, it inevitably has consequences, he said.
“In a neighborhood, if your neighbor bothers you, you can move. But you can’t do that with countries: you can’t replace Iran with Germany, Italy, France, or Russia,” he said.
“So you have to reach some sort of agreement.”
“We have some of the most feared countries in the world right on our doorstep: Iraq, Syria, and Iran,” he said.
“This greatly complicates our development.”
Celiktas is not indifferent to the fate of Iranians who cross to the Turkish side of the border after the ruthless repression of protests in January.
But the collapse of their economy and currency, which sparked the popular uprising, is being felt acutely in the province.
Turkiye shares a 550-kilometer border with Iran, 300km of which flank Van province, with the main pedestrian border crossing of Kapikoy just a 90-minute drive from the provincial capital, also called Van.
The latest crisis is another blow to the struggling economy in this region of 1.1 million people which lies at the eastern end of Anatolia.
Perched on the eastern shores of Lake Van and surrounded by snow-capped mountains, the city of Van has traditionally offered escape and relaxation for Iranian tourists.
Visitors come to shop, enjoy the local bars or take out boats on Turkiye’s largest lake, which is also the second-largest in the Middle East.
“Iranian tourists are our main clientele,” said Emre Deger, head of Van’s tourism professionals association, whose own hotel has seen occupancy rates decline year after year.
Even though winter is the low season, a third of its rooms are usually occupied, he explained.
“But currently, all the hotels are empty or at 10 percent of capacity at best,” he added.
‘For the Internet’
For eight to 10 days after the crackdown on Iranian protesters when there was an Internet blackout, the flow of visitors “completely dried up,” Deger said.
“Those who came were just here for the Internet,” he added.
Every morning when the Kapikoy crossing opens, a few dozen travelers arrive in the cold, wearily boarding buses or taxis headed for Van.
Apart from a handful of students and the odd few with long-term plans outside of Iran, not many are prepared to speak, quickly scurrying off to discreet hotels where they keep to themselves.
“Most even hesitate to go out to get food,” said Deger, who is waiting for March 21 when Iranians mark Nowruz, Persian New Year, to see if the tourists will return.
One Iranian woman in her 30s from the northwestern city of Tabriz said she understood the decline in visitors.
“There’s no middle class left in Iran. We’re all at the bottom, the very bottom,” she said, without giving her name.
“Everyone is poor.”
Back in Iran, she used to work in insurance, but now has a job at an elegant café in downtown Van.
“In the whole of January, I saw maybe two Iranians here,” she said.
‘Our money is worthless’
“Two years ago, when you came to Turkiye with 5 or 10 million rials ($4-$8), you were fine. Now you need at least 40 or 50 million rials. Hotels, food, everything has become more expensive for us.
“Our money is worthless now.”
The monthly salary she earned in Iran would barely last three days in Van today, she added.
“Our customers used to fill entire suitcases with clothes (to take home). But it’s very quiet now,” said Emre Teker in his clothing store.
Celiktas also blamed US and European sanctions for crippling Iran’s economy — and Van’s.
“The Van bypass still isn’t finished after 18 years of construction,” he said. “It’s become a joke, sometimes written on the back of trucks: ‘May our love be like the Van bypass and never end’.”
If a country faces trade restrictions for decades, it inevitably has consequences, he said.
“In a neighborhood, if your neighbor bothers you, you can move. But you can’t do that with countries: you can’t replace Iran with Germany, Italy, France, or Russia,” he said.
“So you have to reach some sort of agreement.”
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.