But until the May 20 incident, there were no known instances of Islamic State fighters posting photographs of female captives being offered for sale. Social-media sites used by ­Islamic State fighters in recent months have included numerous accounts of the buying and selling of sex slaves, as well the promulgation of formal rules for dealing with them. The problems faced by such women appear to be growing worse as military and economic pressure against the Islamic State increases, the report said. But the unusual posting underscores what experts say is an increasingly perilous existence for the hundreds of women who are thought to be held as sex slaves by the Islamic State. Among the women were former Yazidi sex slaves who described abuses that included multiple rapes by different men as they were sold and traded.

Source: Washington Post May 28, 2016 23:30 UTC