Activists Warn IS Could Be About To Kill Kidnapped Yazidi Boys, Men

Activists Warn IS Could Be About To Kill Kidnapped Yazidi Boys, Men





Yazidi activists in Iraq have said
that the Islamic State (IS) extremist group has separated hundreds of
male Yazidi captives from women and girls and could be preparing to kill
them.



Mirza Dinnayi, a senior Yazidi leader and a former adviser on
minority affairs to the Iraqi president, told the Yazidi news portal
Ezidi Press on April 26 that IS militants had separated about 500 Yazidi
boys and men over the age of 14. The Yazidis are being held captive by
IS in Tal Afar in Iraq's Nineveh Province.



Hayrî Demir, the editor of chief of Ezidi Press, told RFE/RL on April
27 that his team had contacted several Yazidi activists who said that
Dinnayi's report was true. Families of those affected have also
confirmed the information, according to Demir.



IS has taken the Yazidi boys and men to the village of Cino near Tal
Afar, Demir said. However, since April 26 Yazidi activists have not been
able to make contact with those who were separated.



IS militants abducted as many as several thousand members of the
Kurdish Yazidi minority after taking control of the Sinjar region of
northern Iraq in August 2014, according to Kurdistan officials and
community leaders.



The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) Directorate of Yazidi Affairs
has said that, as of March 15, 974 Yazidis have escaped IS, including
513 women and 304 children.



 

Mirza
Dinnayi (center), a senior Yazidi leader, says IS militants separated
about 500 Yazidi boys and men being held captive and could be preparing
to kill them.