Islamic militants in northern Iraq have
massacred at least 80 men from the Yazidi faith
in a village and abducted women and children,
reports say.
Islamic State (IS) fighters entered Kocho, 45km (30
miles) from Sinjar, on Friday afternoon, reportedly
telling men to convert to Islam or die.
According to previous reports, residents had been
given until Thursday to convert to Islam or face
execution, in what is becoming a common ISIS
ultimatum.
The group’s atrocities against non-Sunni Muslims
have shocked the international community into
action, the BBC reports.
In New York, the United Nations Security Council
imposed sanctions on IS members.
In another development, the United States’ military
said two of its drones had attacked and destroyed
two vehicles identified as belonging to IS near Sinjar
on Friday morning, after receiving reports from
Kurdish forces that the militants were attacking
civilians in the village of Kawju.
Kurdish officials confirmed the attack on Kocho after
it was reported by Yazidi activists based in
Washington.
“They arrived in vehicles and they started their
killing this afternoon,” senior Kurdish official,
Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters news agency on Friday.
The killings took place over the space of an hour, said
a Yazidi MP, Mahama Khalil, who reportedly spoke to
survivors.
A resident of a nearby village said an IS fighter from
the same area had given him details of the
bloodshed.
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