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Yazidis haunted by cries for help as militants bury victims alive

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<img alt="Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, who fled the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, take part in a demonstration at the Iraqi-Turkish border crossing in Zakho district of the Dohuk Governorate of the Iraqi Kurdistan province August 17, 2014. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal" border="0" src="http://s2.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20140818&t=2&i=965018306&w=580&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=LYNXMPEA7H0TD" style="display: block; width: 580px;" /><div class="rolloverCaption" id="captionContent" style="bottom: 0px; clear: both; float: left; left: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: -10px; padding-right: 20px; position: relative; width: 590px; z-index: 2;">
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, who fled the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, take part in a demonstration at the Iraqi-Turkish border crossing in Zakho district of the Dohuk Governorate of the Iraqi Kurdistan province August 17, 2014.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">CREDIT: REUTERS/YOUSSEF BOUDLAL</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(Reuters) - Refugee Samo Ilyas Ali has nine children to feed but he can't focus on the future because the sounds of women and children crying out for help while being buried alive by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq often consume his mind.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tens of thousand of Yazidis fled their ancient homeland of Sinjar and other villages to escape a dramatic push by the Sunni militants who regard the ethnic minority as devil worshippers who must embrace their radical version of Islam or die.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The refugees sit idle in camps in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/iraq?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Iraq</a></span>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Traumatized by Islamic State militants notorious for beheadings and mass executions, they have simply given up on Iraq and want to go as far away as possible; to countries like<span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/germany?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Germany</a></span>, worlds away from their mysterious customs.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">U.S. air strikes against Islamic State positions and vows by Kurdish commanders to recapture Yazidi villages provided no reassurances.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It's easy to see why.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ten days ago, Ali and his fellow villagers were suddenly surrounded by Islamic State militants with machine guns at night. They had long beards. Some had face masks and Arabic writing on the sides of their heads.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">NO ONE TO HELP</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Absent from the scene were Kurdish peshmerga, or "those who confront death", fighters who had held parts of the north and were seen as the only force that could stand up to Islamic State after thousands of U.S.-trained Iraqi soldiers fled their advance, leaving them with heavy weapons including tanks</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Suddenly the men began digging ditches - soon to become mass graves.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"We did not understand. Then they started to put people in those holes, those people were alive," said former grocery shop owner Ali, 46, pausing to weep.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"After a while we heard gunfire. I can't forget that scene. Women, children, crying for help. We had to run for our lives, there was nothing to be done for them."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It was not possible to independently verify these accounts.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Some of the Yazidis escaped with the help of Turkish and Syrian Kurdish fighters. But similar scenes are reported in several parts of the north.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In some of the most recent bloodshed, militants massacred at least 80 Yazidi men in Kawju village because they refused to convert to Islam, Iraqi officials said. Women and children were abducted.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Islamic State seemed most intent on killing members of Iraq's majority Shi'ite sect, which it considers to be heretical. During Islamic State's latest offensive in the north, minority Yazidis and Christians have suffered the most.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Yazidis, followers of an ancient religion derived from Zoroastrianism, are spread over northern Iraq and are part of the country's Kurdish minority.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Many of their villages were destroyed when Saddam Hussein's troops tried to crush the Kurds. Some were taken away by the executed former dictator's intelligence agents.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now they feel helpless again. Fellow Kurds abandoned them. Iraq has a new prime minister who is seen as moderate and may be less inclined to engage in disputes with the Kurds over budgets and oil than his predecessor, perhaps bringing political stability that could benefit the north.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But many Yazidis have lost faith in Iraq and its leaders. They have few options. Some complained that Kurdish forces would not let them travel to <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/turkey?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Turkey</a></span>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So for now, it seems all they can do is wait, and try to forget what caused them to flee their homes.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"They put women and children under the ground. They were alive. I still hear their screams. They were trying to keep their heads up to keep breathing," said car repairman Dawud Hassan, 26.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Iraq is finished for me. We had houses, shops, they all burnt our things. We have nothing. We want to cross to <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/turkey?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Turkey</a></span> but the peshmerga is not letting us. We will not stay there, we want to go to Europe."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It is not clear if Iraqi government forces or peshmerga will manage to claw back territory and then hold it - something that could help Yazidis believe in their country again.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Islamic State is getting more ambitious. It has already grabbed much of the north and resources such as oil fields that will help fund its self-proclaimed caliphate.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Some Yazidis, like Hassan, 22, a student, shake their heads in disbelief when recalling how only foreign Kurdish fighters from Turkey or <span class="mandelbrot_refrag"><a class="mandelbrot_refrag" data-ls-seen="1" href="http://www.reuters.com/places/syria?lc=int_mb_1001" style="cursor: pointer; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Syria</a></span> extended a lifeline in the face of Islamic State.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"They tied the hands of one woman to the back of a car and her legs to another car and they split her into two," he said beside makeshift tents as women cried.</span></div>
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"Have you seen anything like this? This is all because she is not Muslim and did not want to be converted. We barely made it."</div>
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Yazidis haunted by cries for help as militants bury victims alive

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, who fled the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, take part in a demonstration at the...

18:56

Yazidis haunted by cries for help as militants bury victims alive

Yazidis haunted by cries for help as militants bury victims alive

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, who fled the violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, take part in a demonstration at the...

18:56

Up to 3,000 women and girls kidnapped by Islamic State jihadis in Iraq in just a fortnight

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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Up to 3,000 women and girls kidnapped by Islamic State jihadis in Iraq in just a fortnight - and hundreds of men who refuse to convert have been shot dead</span></span></h1>
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<li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Innocent Yazidi children have suffered harrowing ordeals in northern Iraq</span><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></li>
<li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-weight: bold;">Kidnappings 'happened in areas where residents took up arms against IS'</span></li>
<li style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Women are being held separately from the men in IS-controlled Tal Afar</span><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></li>
<li id="ext-gen127" style="list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">200,000 people escaped to safety but others remain on Mount Sinjar</span><br style="font-weight: bold;" /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></li>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">These are the faces of six of the thousands of innocent Yazidi children who have suffered harrowing ordeals in Iraq this month.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Up to 3,000 women and girls have been kidnapped by Islamic State jihadis in the north of the country in just a fortnight - and hundreds of men who refuse to convert have been shot dead.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The kidnappings appear to have happened in villages where residents took up arms against IS - and the women are being held separately from the men in IS-controlled Tal Afar, east ofMountain </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="A Yazidi refugee child in Zakho, Iraq" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="1" height="423" id="i-9b07f1df9dbaffed" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727165-2085D4EC00000578-139_306x423.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="306" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;">
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Innocent: A displaced Iraqi child from the Yazidi community (left) holds a juice carton after crossing the Syrian-Iraqi border at the Fishkhabur crossing, Iraq. Another Yazidi refugee child is seen (right) in Zakho, Iraq</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="A Yazidi child receives a polio vaccine at Khanke, outside Dahuk, 260 miles  northwest of Baghdad" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="2" height="377" id="i-e4947ac26abab5f8" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727165-2099963600000578-583_638x377.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="638" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;">
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A Yazidi child receives a polio vaccine at Khanke, outside Dahuk, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="A Yazidi child receives a polio vaccine. The Yazidis are a centuries-old religious minority viewed as apostates by the Islamic State group, which has claimed mass killings of its opponents in Syria and Iraq" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="3" height="327" id="i-eafae5c26fa023bd" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727165-2099963200000578-437_640x327.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="640" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;">
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<span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+18</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A Yazidi child receives a polio vaccine. The Yazidis are a centuries-old religious minority viewed as apostates by the Islamic State group, which has claimed mass killings of its opponents in Syria and Iraq</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Iraqi clerics from the Yazidi  Yazidis found refuge after Islamic State (IS) militants attacked the town of Sinjar" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="4" height="399" id="i-eb6483a205d9e9ec" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727165-2099903900000578-152_638x399.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="638" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;">
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<span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+18</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Iraqi clerics from the Yazidi Yazidis found refuge after Islamic State (IS) militants attacked the town of Sinjar</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="An Iraqi Yazidi girl holds a baby under a bridge on the outskirts of the Kurdish city of Dohuk" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="5" height="399" id="i-e6bf9b3f4f6eb2c4" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727165-20998B8400000578-908_638x399.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="638" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Yazidi community gather under a bridge where they sought refuge after Islamic State militants attacked the town of Sinjar" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="6" height="346" id="i-e3926ad57acc19ec" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727165-20998AB100000578-154_638x346.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="638" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;">
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<span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+18</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Yazidi community gather under a bridge where they sought refuge after Islamic State militants attacked the town of Sinjar</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Yazidi community settle at the Qandil mountains near the Turkish border outside Zakho, 300 miles northwest of Baghdad, Iraq" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="7" height="364" id="i-94e8b94e2b6b0ac4" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727165-20999E8A00000578-983_638x364.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="638" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;">
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<span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+18</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Yazidi community settle at the Qandil mountains near the Turkish border outside Zakho, 300 miles northwest of Baghdad, Iraq</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="An Iraqi Yazidi girl, who fled her home when Islamic State (IS) militants attacked the town of Sinjar, poses for a photo on the outskirts of the Kurdish city of Dohuk, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="8" height="423" id="i-ef40b2aac42fd2d4" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727165-20936D2000000578-963_306x423.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="306" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;">
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<span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+18</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="A Yazidi refugee girl standing amid second hand clothing at Silopi refugee camp near Sirnak city, at the Turkish-Iraqi border" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="9" height="423" id="i-9c74b5de844bce27" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727165-2096F7FD00000578-672_306x423.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="306" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;">
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<span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+18</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Young faces: An Iraqi Yazidi girl poses for a photo on the outskirts of the Kurdish city of Dohuk (left), while another is seen standing among clothing at Silopi refugee camp near Sirnak, at the Turkish-Iraqi border (right)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="An Iraqi Yazidi girl on the outskirts of the Kurdish city of Dohuk" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="10" height="423" id="i-9a64d7e8aad46efc" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727165-20937C1B00000578-188_306x423.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="306" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;">
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<span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+18</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="A displaced Iraqi girl from the Yazidi community holds a piece of bread after crossing the Iraqi-Syrian border at the Fishkhabur crossing, in northern Iraq" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="11" height="423" id="i-eb0b4166c240f1dd" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727165-20721C9400000578-213_306x423.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="306" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;">
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<span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+18</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Caught up in conflict: An Iraqi Yazidi girl on the outskirts of the Kurdish city of Dohuk (left), and another is seen (right) after crossing the Iraqi-Syrian border at the Fishkhabur crossing</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Some 200,000 people escaped to safety in Iraq's Kurdish region, but others remain on the mountain.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's senior crisis response adviser, told the Agence France-Presse news agency: ‘The victims are of all ages, from babies to elderly men and women.’</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">‘It seems they took away entire families, all those who did not manage to flee. We fear the men may have been executed.’</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2727165/Up-3-000-women-girls-kidnapped-Islamic-State-jihadis-Iraq-just-fortnight.html#ixzz3Aihw5vT1" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2727165/Up-3-000-women-girls-kidnapped-Islamic-State-jihadis-Iraq-just-fortnight.html#ixzz3Aihw5vT1</a><br />Follow us: <a href="http://ec.tynt.com/b/rw?id=bBOTTqvd0r3Pooab7jrHcU&u=MailOnline" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">@MailOnline on Twitter</a> | <a href="http://ec.tynt.com/b/rf?id=bBOTTqvd0r3Pooab7jrHcU&u=DailyMail" style="cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">DailyMail on Facebook</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Two women - Leila Khalaf and Wadhan Khalaf - were among those kidnapped from Mujamma Jazira village, said their relative Dakhil Atto Solo.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">He added that the abductions happened after residents tried to resist the IS attack, telling AFP: ‘Of course we tried to defend our villages, but they had much bigger weapons.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">‘All we had were our Kalashnikovs. They executed 300 men, and took the women to their prisons.  Only God can save them now.’ Their children, said Mr Solo, were rescued by the family.</span></div>
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<span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+18</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community settle yesterday at the Qandil mountains near the Turkish border</span></div>
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<span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+18</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Some 200,000 people escaped to safety in Iraq's Kurdish region, but others remain on the mountain</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">‘But the women were in a house surrounded by IS. We had to escape. Now, the children cry for their mothers all the time. "Mama, mama," they wail. But there is no mama, we tell them.’</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">His comments on the dire situation came as Islamic extremists shot dead scores of Yazidi men, lining them up in small groups and opening fire with assault rifles before seizing their wives and children.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-weight: bold;">'The victims are of all ages, from babies to elderly men and women. It seems they took away entire families, all those who did not manage to flee. We fear the men may have been executed'</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A Yazidi politician cited the mass killing in Kocho as evidence that his people were still at risk after a week of US and Iraqi air strikes on the militants.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Meanwhile, warplanes targeted insurgents around a large dam that was captured by the IS extremist group earlier this month.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">US Central Command said the strikes were launched under the authority to support humanitarian efforts in Iraq, as well as to protect US staff and facilities.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Central Command says the nine air strikes conducted so far had destroyed or damaged four armoured personnel carriers, seven armed vehicles, two Humvees and an armoured vehicle.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The US began strikes against IS a week ago, in part to prevent the massacre of tens of thousands of Yazidis in northern Iraq. </span></div>
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Child refugees from Mount Sinjar queue for food aid</div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Yazidis fled the militants by scrambling up a barren mountain, where they became stranded" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="14" height="418" id="i-9e8e4fd41717f0e8" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727165-20949F2D00000578-548_634x418.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;">
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<span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+18</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Yazidis fled the militants by scrambling up a barren mountain, where they became stranded</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Displaced Iraqi Christians and Yazidis settle at the Diocese of Zakho, 300 miles north-west of Baghdad, Iraq" class="blkBorder img-share" data-track-pos="15" height="424" id="i-e8ed19971d153bd4" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/17/article-2727165-20949FA500000578-909_634x424.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /></span><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; display: table; height: 36px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px;">
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<span style="display: table-cell; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">+18</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Displaced Iraqi Christians and Yazidis settle at the Diocese of Zakho, 300 miles north-west of Baghdad, Iraq</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">They fled the militants by scrambling up a barren mountain, where they became stranded. Most were eventually able to escape with help from Kurdish fighters.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">IS fighters surrounded the nearby village 12 days ago and demanded that its Yazidi residents convert or die. On Friday afternoon, they moved in.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-weight: bold;">'All we had were our Kalashnikovs. They executed 300 men, and took the women to their prisons. Only God can save them now'</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="text-align: left;">Dakhil Atto Solo, relative of</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: left;">kidnapped women</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The militants told people to gather in a school, promising they would be allowed to leave Kocho after their details were recorded, said an eyewitness and the brother of the Kocho mayor, Nayef Jassem.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The militants separated the men from the women and children under 12. They took men and male teens away in groups of a few dozen each and shot them on the edge of the village, according to a wounded man who escaped by feigning death.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The fighters then walked among the bodies, using pistols to finish off anyone who appeared to still be alive, the 42-year-old man said from an area where he was hiding.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">‘They thought we were dead, and when they went away, we ran away. We hid in a valley until sundown, and then we fled to the mountains,’ he said.</span></div>
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<span style="color: cyan;">Displaced Yazidis recount Islamic State attacks</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A Yazidi politician, a Kurdish security official and an Iraqi official from the nearby city of Sinjar gave similar accounts, saying Islamic State fighters had massacred many Yazidi men on Friday after seizing Kocho.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-weight: bold;">'They thought we were dead, and when they went away, we ran away. We hid in a valley until sundown, and then we fled to the mountains'</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Man who escaped from militants</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">All said they based their information on the accounts of survivors. Their accounts matched those of two other Yazidi men, Qassim Hussein and Nayef Jassem, who said they spoke to other survivors.</span></div>
<div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It was not clear precisely how many men were killed. Iraqi and Kurdish officials said at least 80 men were shot.</span></div>
<div style="min-height: 1px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Yazidi residents said they believed the number was higher, because there were at least 175 families in Kocho, and few were able to escape before the militants surrounded their hamlet.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Yesterday Britain deployed a US-made spy plane over northern Iraq to monitor the humanitarian crisis and movements of the militants.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The converted Boeing KC-135 tanker, called a Rivet Joint, was monitoring mobile phone calls and other communication.</span></div>
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Up to 3,000 women and girls kidnapped by Islamic State jihadis in Iraq in just a fortnight

Up to 3,000 women and girls kidnapped by Islamic State jihadis in Iraq in just a fortnight - and hundreds of men who refuse to convert hav...

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Yazidis haunted by cries for help as militants bury victims alive

Yazidis haunted by cries for help as militants bury victims alive

Up to 3,000 women and girls kidnapped by Islamic State jihadis in Iraq in just a fortnight

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