Over 1,280 Yezidis massacred since August 2014

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – The KRG Director of Yezidi Affairs in the Ministry of Endowment, Khairi Bozani told K24 on Wednesday that more than 7,000 Yezidis have emigrated from the Kurdistan Region since the Islamic State (IS) occupied Shingal (Sinjar).

Bozani added that the Yezidi’s population in Iraq was previously 500,000 from which 400,000 have been displaced after jihadists captured Shingal in August 2014 and massacred more than 1,280 Yazidis and leaving 960 children orphans.

Bozani reported that 7,000 Yezidis emigrated to Europe and the United States of America, while nearly 6,000 others were kidnaped, including nearly 3,200 women and 2,650 men.

The Director of Yezidi Affairs declared that the number of abducted and enslaved Yezidis that were liberated by Peshmerga forces or fled in general could be as high as 1,422 women and nearly 900 men.

A recent UN report revealed that sixteen mass graves have been discovered in the completely devastated area of Shingal which was liberated by Peshmerga forces last month.

Bozani added that almost 75 percent of Iraq's Yezidis are still displaced.On November 13, Peshmerga forces backed by US-led coalition airstrikes liberated Shingal.

Some 7,500 Peshmerga forces participated in the decisive victory against the jihadists and also gained control of the strategic Route 47 which IS used to transfer weapons and forces between Mosul and Raqqa, in Syria.

Yezidis made up the majority of the population in Shingal, though Arabs and Assyrian Christians also inhabited the town in Nineveh (Mosul) Province.