Iraq: Yazidi Captives Killed By Islamic State Militants Near Mosul

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Illustration – Photo from: Al-Alam
Islamic State group militants have shot to death captive Yazidis at a prison camp in northern Iraq, News.com.au reported. Reports of the deaths varied widely, with some sources saying 25 prisoners were killed, while other sources said the tally was 300.
The killings took place at a prison camp near the town of Tal Afar, about 150 kilometres east of the Syrian border or 420 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, Yazidi lawmaker Mahma Khalil said.

Khalil said he spoke to four different people with knowledge of what happened inside of the camp, though a reason for the killings still wasn’t immediately apparent.

“The militants want to spread horror among them to force them to convert to Islam or to do something else,” Khalil said.

He added that those killed included men, women and the elderly. He said he believes about 1400 other Yazidis are still held in that camp.

Tens of thousands of Yazidis fled in August when the IS group captured the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, near the Syrian border.

But hundreds were taken captive by the group, with some Yazidi women forced into slavery, according to international rights groups and Iraqi officials.

About 50,000 Yazidis — half of them children, according to UN figures — fled to the mountains outside Sinjar during the onslaught. Some still remain there.

The IS group views Yazidis and Shi’ite Muslims as apostates deserving of death, and has demanded Christians either convert to Islam or pay a special tax.

Previously, IS has let go of hundreds of other Yazidis held in captivity.

http://inserbia.info/today/2015/05/iraq-yazidi-captives-killed-by-islamic-state-militants-near-mosul/