Thousands of Yazidis still trapped on Iraq mountain

Tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped by militants on a mountain in northern Iraq and need ‘life-saving assistance’, the United Nations warns. Members of the Yazidi sect fled there 11 days ago after fighters from Islamic State (IS) seized the town of Sinjar. On Monday, IS militants seized the town of Jalawla, north-east of Baghdad, after weeks of clashes with Peshmergas. The jidahists already control a number of strategic northern places including Iraq’s largest dam located near the city of Mosul, towns and oil fields in Iraqi Kurdistan.
‘A genocide’
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon urged countries to do more to help Iraqi civilians. ‘The plight of Yazidis and others on Mount Sinjar is especially harrowing,’ he said. An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people remain trapped on Mount Sinjar without food, water or shelter said the UN’s Adrian Edwards in a statement. There are now an estimated 1.2 million internally displaced Iraqis, he added, according to BBC.