1 March 2019 - 08:57

Mass grave believes to be Yezidis found in last IS enclave

<p style="text-align: left;">A mass grave containing the bodies of dozens of people believed to be Yezidis held captive by Islamic State (IS) has been found in territory recently captured from the jihadists by the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an SDF commander said.

The grave was found in territory seized from Islamic State in Baghouz, the final enclave held by the group near the Iraqi border, SDF commander Adnan Afrin told Reuters on Thursday, February 28.

“They were slaughtered,” he said. Most had been decapitated, he added.

Many of the dead were women, according to the SDF commander.

Islamic State militants attacked Sinjar and the Nineveh plain on August 3, 2014 and thousands Yezidis fell to the hands of the militant group.

Proclaiming a theocratic caliphate based on a radical interpretation of Sunni Islam, IS has tried to erase the Yezidis’ identity by forcing men to choose between conversion to Islam or death, raping girls as young as nine, selling women at slave markets, and forcing boys to fight for the group.

Former mayor of Sinjar Mahma Xelil said in a press conference on Thursday that the fate of some 3,051 Yezidis abducted by IS militants in Sinjar remained unclear.

Xelil added that Yezidi groups had obtained information that some of those who were abducted by IS have been taken to Libya, Chechen, Georgia, and Turkey.

Reporter’s code: 50101

News Code 35896