German teen who left to join ISIS captured in Mosul

Iraqi troops celebrate recapturing Mosul.
(Image credit: Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images)

A 16-year-old girl who left Germany to join the Islamic State has been captured in Mosul, Iraq, and told authorities there she is sorry for joining the terrorist organization and wants to be with her family again, the German magazine Der Spiegel reports.

The teen, Linda Wenzel, is in a Baghdad prison, and she's receiving consular support, said Lorenz Haase, the senior public prosecutor in Dresden. She is from the small town of Pulsnitz, near Dresden, and went missing last summer. Several German media outlets say they have interviewed Wenzel, and she told them she wants to "get away from here. I want to get away from the war, from the many weapons, from the noise."

Wenzel also told the media she was shot in the left thigh and her right knee was injured during a helicopter attack, and she is prepared to cooperate with police.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.