MONTREAL—Canada is investigating reports that two Canadians are among 20 women and girls captured by Iraqi forces hunting for Daesh militants in Mosul, according to a government spokesperson.

As families of Canadian foreign fighters desperately await news of their loved ones, government officials are also searching for facts and truth in the fog of a brutal war days after the Iraqi government declared victory over the terror group.

On Tuesday morning, those families awoke to reports that a group of about 20 female militants loyal to Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, had been captured while hiding out in a secret tunnel in Mosul’s Quleiat neighbourhood.

A report citing an Iraqi counterterrorism official said that there were five Germans, three Russians, three Turks, two Canadians, a Chechen and six others from Libya and Syria who had been detained.

That information could not be independently verified by the Star. Global Affairs Canada said in a statement that it is trying to confirm details of the report with the Iraqi government.

“We are aware of these media reports. Canadian officials are contacting local authorities and gathering additional information,” said Jocelyn Sweet.

Herman Okomba-Deparice, the director of Montreal’s Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence, said he has received calls from the worried parents of Canadian foreign fighters who fear for their childrens’ lives.

“I recently spoke with a mother whose child is there. The parents are worried. There are some parents who haven’t had any news from their children since the bombing of Mosul began. It’s a time of desperation right now,” he said.

“There are some parents who have maintained communication with their children, who give them updates from time to time. But in the last four or five weeks it has been radio silence.”

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory over Daesh on July 10, calling it “the end and the failure of the fake state” and “a victory over brutality and terrorism.”

In the days since that declaration, Iraqi military forces have been digging through the rubble for militants hiding out in the city.

There was little information available about the females captured in Mosul. Haider al-Araji, an Iraqi counterterrorism official cited by several media outlets said the females were members of a Daesh police unit and were armed with weapons and explosive belts.

German authorities are reportedly attempting to verify that one of the females is a 16-year-old German school girl believed to have fled her country in July 2016.

Alexandra Bain, the director of Hayat Canada, an organization that supports families of radicalized individuals, said that the Islamic terror group aimed to recruit young women below the age of 20.

“Before you had too many critical thinking skills,” she said. “They were very successful and the fact that 20 young women want to come home or were caught, this is now what we’re facing.”

She said the families of those whose children have been captured rather than killed in the assault on Mosul are likely to experience a temporary relief from their anxiety. After, they will be plunged into a nightmare of returning to their home country and facing justice or counseling for their extremist beliefs as well as the horrors they have participated in or lived through.

“I think these kids are the lucky ones having gotten caught. There’s still always a possibility that their minds can change, that they can grow. When you’re dead there’s not much growing that happens.”

Okomba-Deparice said Canada should push to bring its captured citizens back home. Those who have committed crimes should be charged and tried. But others will need counseling and support, he said.

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“We have young people and those who have lived through horror. We also have children who have been born over there. The problem is larger than we think,” he said.

However he worries that the federal government is ill-equipped to face the full extent of the problem with just a small number of officials on the ground in Iraq.

“I think Canada has to have a greater presence. We have to take this seriously because there are still about 200 Canadians in Syria and Iraq.”

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