Yazidis accused of revenge killings

BAGHDAD

Members of the Yazidi community
one of the Iraqi minorities hardest
hit by jihagist   atrocities killed 21
Sunni Arab villagers in a revenge
attack,Amnesty International Said,

The London based watchdog inves
tigated attacks carried out n Jan 24
by a Yazidi militia in Jiri and Sibaya
two Sunni Arab villages in the Sinjar
region of  northern Iraq,

"Not a single house was spared Half
of those killed were elderly or disabled
men women and children Amnesty said
in a report,

Among other witness Amnesty spoke
to a father who lost two sons ,aged 15
and 20' in the attack,A 12 year-old
boy was shot four times in the back
but survived,

The Yazidis ,a religioous minority
living in Iraq's Sinjar region ,are neither
Muslim nor Arabs,and follow a unique
 faith last year,Islamic State fighters
massacred Yazidis forced thousands to
flee captured thousands of girls and women
as spoils of war and used them as sex slaves

The rights group said some witnesses also
accused Kurdish security forces running
the area of turning a blind eye,

The report ,which included investigations
into other sectarian massacres,was issued
to coincide with the first anniversary of IS
offensive in Iraq  ,Fighters took over around
a third of Iraq last June ,bringing it to the
brink of collapse,

Violence has continued as Iraq government
forces and a wide range  of foreign allies
battle IS,but so far failing to break the back
of the militant group.
AFP