Iraq militants have executed at least 500 Yazidi people, dumping their victims in mass graves across the north of the country, an official has said.
There is “striking evidence” that Islamic State fighters, formerly known as ISIS, have buried some of their victims, including women and children, alive as they continue their bloody advance across Iraq, according to the human rights minister, Sky News reports.
The militants have driven as many as 150,000 Yazidis from their homes into the Sinjar mountains, where they are cut off from food and water and struggling to survive. Hundreds are already reported to have died.
Yazidis flee as the jihadists carve a bloody trail through northern Iraq.
The jihadists have also kidnapped 300 women as slaves.
Human rights minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said, “We have striking evidence obtained from Yazidis fleeing Sinjar and some who escaped death, and also crime scene images that show indisputably that the gangs of the Islamic States have executed at least 500 Yazidis after seizing Sinjar.
“Some of the victims, including women and children, were buried alive in scattered mass graves in and around Sinjar.”
Thousands are hiding in the Sinjar mountains but face starvation
Officials earlier said at least 20,000 of those trapped in the mountains had managed to escape into Syria and been escorted by Kurdish fighters back into Iraqi Kurdistan.
Iraqi Kurdish President Massoud Barzani has appealed to the international community for weapons to help them fight the extremists.
Humanitarian aid drops from the back of an RAF plane
On Sunday, officials said Kurdish troops have retaken Makhmur and Gwer, the first cities in northern Iraq since US airstrikes targeted militant artillery and equipment.
No comments:
Post a Comment