<p>Teenage girls abducted by Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria are being sold in slave markets "for as little as a pack of cigarettes," the UN envoy on sexual violence has said.<br /><br />Zainab Bangura visited Iraq and Syria in April, and has since been working on an action plan to address the horrific sexual violence being waged by IS fighters.</p>.<p><br />"This is a war that is being fought on the bodies of women," Bangura told AFP in an interview yesterday.</p>.<p><br />The UN envoy spoke to women and girls who had escaped from captivity in IS-controlled areas, met with local religious and political leaders and visited refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.</p>.<p><br />Jihadists continue to run slave markets for girls abducted during fresh offensives, but there are no figures on the numbers enslaved by the fighters.<br /><br />"They kidnap and abduct women when they take areas so they have -- I don't want to call it a fresh supply -- but they have new girls," she said.<br />Girls are sold for "as little as a pack of cigarettes" or for several hundred or thousand dollars, she said.</p>.<p><br />Bangura described the ordeal of several teenage girls, many of whom were part of the Yazidi minority targeted by the jihadists.<br /><br />"Some were taken, locked up in a room -- over 100 of them in a small house -- stripped naked and washed."<br /><br />They were then made to stand in front of a group of men who decided "what you are worth."<br />Bangura gave the account of a 15-year-old girl who was sold to an IS leader, a sheikh aged in his 50s, who showed her a gun and a stick and asked her "tell me what you want."<br />"She said 'the gun' and he replied: 'I didn't buy you so that you could kill yourself'" before raping her, Bangura said.</p>.<p><br />Abducting girls has become a key part of the IS strategy to recruit foreign fighters who have been traveling to Iraq and Syria in record numbers over the past 18 months.<br /><br />"This is how they attract young men - we have women waiting for you, virgins that you can marry," Bangura said. "The foreign fighters are the backbone of the fighting."<br /><br />A recent UN report said close to 25,000 foreign fighters from over 100 countries were involved in conflicts worldwide, with the largest influx by far into Syria and Iraq. </p>
<p>Teenage girls abducted by Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria are being sold in slave markets "for as little as a pack of cigarettes," the UN envoy on sexual violence has said.<br /><br />Zainab Bangura visited Iraq and Syria in April, and has since been working on an action plan to address the horrific sexual violence being waged by IS fighters.</p>.<p><br />"This is a war that is being fought on the bodies of women," Bangura told AFP in an interview yesterday.</p>.<p><br />The UN envoy spoke to women and girls who had escaped from captivity in IS-controlled areas, met with local religious and political leaders and visited refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.</p>.<p><br />Jihadists continue to run slave markets for girls abducted during fresh offensives, but there are no figures on the numbers enslaved by the fighters.<br /><br />"They kidnap and abduct women when they take areas so they have -- I don't want to call it a fresh supply -- but they have new girls," she said.<br />Girls are sold for "as little as a pack of cigarettes" or for several hundred or thousand dollars, she said.</p>.<p><br />Bangura described the ordeal of several teenage girls, many of whom were part of the Yazidi minority targeted by the jihadists.<br /><br />"Some were taken, locked up in a room -- over 100 of them in a small house -- stripped naked and washed."<br /><br />They were then made to stand in front of a group of men who decided "what you are worth."<br />Bangura gave the account of a 15-year-old girl who was sold to an IS leader, a sheikh aged in his 50s, who showed her a gun and a stick and asked her "tell me what you want."<br />"She said 'the gun' and he replied: 'I didn't buy you so that you could kill yourself'" before raping her, Bangura said.</p>.<p><br />Abducting girls has become a key part of the IS strategy to recruit foreign fighters who have been traveling to Iraq and Syria in record numbers over the past 18 months.<br /><br />"This is how they attract young men - we have women waiting for you, virgins that you can marry," Bangura said. "The foreign fighters are the backbone of the fighting."<br /><br />A recent UN report said close to 25,000 foreign fighters from over 100 countries were involved in conflicts worldwide, with the largest influx by far into Syria and Iraq. </p>