Nobel Peace Prize for anti-rape activists Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege

A Congolese doctor who treats rape victims and an Iraqi woman who speaks out for those - like herself - who were raped and tortured by the Islamic State group won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their work to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Dr Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad "have made a crucial contribution to focusing attention on, and combating, such war crimes," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said. "Denis Mukwege is the helper who has devoted his life to defending these victims. Nadia Murad is the witness who tells of the abuses perpetrated against herself and others."

Mukwege, 63, founded a hospital in eastern Congo's Bukavu region and has treated thousands of women, many of whom were victims of gang rape in the central African nation that has been wracked by conflict for decades. Armed men tried to kill him in 2012, forcing him to temporarily leave the country.

At 19, Murad was one of an estimated 3000 Yazidi girls and women kidnapped in 2014 by IS militants in Iraq and sold into sex slavery. She was raped, beaten and tortured before managing to escape after three months. After getting treatment in Germany, she then spoke to the world about the horrors still being faced by her religious minority. At 23, she was named the UN's first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking.

Ms Murad, 25, said in a statement that many Yazidis would "look upon this prize and think of family members that were lost, are still unaccounted for, and of the 1,300 women and children, which remain in captivity".

"For myself, I think of my mother, who was murdered by DAESH [IS], the children with whom I grew up, and what we must do to honour them," she added.

"Persecution of minorities must end. We must work together with determination - to prove that genocidal campaigns will not only fail, but lead to accountability for the perpetrators and justice for the survivors."

New Iraqi President Barham Saleh called the award "an honour for all Iraqis who fought terrorism and bigotry".

Dr Mukwege was operating at his hospital when he heard he had won the prize.

"I was in the operating room so when they started to make noise around [it] I wasn't really thinking about what was going on, and suddenly some people came in and told me the news," he told Norwegian newspaper VG.

He dedicated his award to all women affected by sexual violence.

"This Nobel prize is a recognition of the suffering and the failure to adequately compensate women who are victims of rape and sexual violence in all countries around the world," he told reporters gathered outside his clinic.