BAGHDAD — Forty-seven French citizens who had been held in detention in northeast Syria on suspicion of being members of the Islamic State group have been handed over to Iraq for prosecution, Iraqi security officials said.

Three Iraqi security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly told The Associated Press on Thursday that the French prisoners will be tried on terrorism charges in Iraq.

They had been held in one of a network of detention centers in northeast Syria housing some 9,000 accused IS members guarded by the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, before they were handed over to Iraq a month and a half ago, the officials said. Their transfer had not been previously reported.

French officials could not be imm

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