| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| ISIS kills 90 Yazidis in Sinjar |
| 2014-08-16 |
| The U.S. military conducted new airstrikes against Islamic militants Friday as sources tell Fox News members of the group killed 90 male members of Iraq's Yazidi minority in a northern village and kidnapped "dozens" of women and children. The Kurdish-speaking ethnic and religious group, which numbers in the hundreds of thousands in Iraq, has been persecuted in the north by Islamic State militants, with at least 500 killed prior to Friday's news, according to Iraq's human rights minister. The U.S. military said in a statement Friday that after receiving reports of civilians being attacked, U.S. forces conducted airstrikes on Islamic State vehicles in the village of Kawju. The village is located south of the village of Sinjar. "[Militants] arrived in vehicles and they started their killing this afternoon,'' senior Kurdish official Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters. "We believe it's because of their creed: convert or be killed." A Yazidi lawmaker and another senior Kurdish official also said the killings had taken place and that the women of the village were kidnapped. Iraqi and Yazidi leaders say the brutal Islamic State fighters have buried Yazidi men alive, killed children and kidnapped women to be slaves. "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," Sudani told Reuters Sunday. Sinjar is the ancient home of the Yazidis, but also one of several towns captured by the Sunni militants who view the community as "devil worshipers" and demand conversion to Islam under threat of death. |
| Posted by:Steve White |