Ezidi Director: Ezidi women burned by IS unconfirmed

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The Director General of Yezidi (Ezidi) Affairs in the Kurdistan Region stated on Sunday that no sources confirm that Islamic State (IS) insurgents have burnt 11 Kurdish Ezidi women to death for refusing to have sex with them.

The Kurdish Ezidi city of Sinjar (Shingal) is located in the north of Iraq, southwest of the Kurdistan Region. In August 2014, IS took control of the city and enslaved Ezidi women and sold them in Mosul and Raqqa markets, in their stronghold locations.

On Nov. 14, 2015, Shingal was liberated by Kurdish Peshmerga forces with the support of the international coalition airstrikes.

Recently, reports released on different news outlets claim that IS extremists have reportedly burnt 19 Ezidi women to death for refusing to have sex with them.

Weeks ago, an eyewitness told ARA News Agency that the Ezidi women were burning to death inside iron cages while hundreds of people were watching, but no one could save them.

The Director General of Ezidi Affairs in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Khairi Bozani released a statement on his official Facebook account.

Bozani said that officials have been trying to gather information for five days about the incident, but there are no sources to confirm it.

Bozani also stated that they are not confident about the reliability of the reports.

In December 2015, Bozani told Kurdistan24 that jihadists massacred more than 1,280 Ezidis and left 960 children orphaned.

He mentioned that 7,000 Ezidis immigrated to Europe and the United States, while nearly 6,000 others were kidnaped by IS, including nearly 3,200 women and 2,650 men.

On June 6, 2016, Bozani sent a harsh message to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon and rejected his statement about Ezidis paying ransom to IS to free the abducted women.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany