Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Solar Energy News .




IRAQ WARS
Yazidi militia killed 21 in Iraq revenge attack: Amnesty
by Staff Writers
Baghdad (AFP) June 10, 2015


Members of the Yazidi community, one of the Iraqi minorities hardest hit by jihadist atrocities, killed 21 Sunni Arab villagers in a January revenge attack, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

The London-based watchdog investigated attacks carried out on January 25 by a Yazidi militia in Jiri and Sibaya, two Sunni Arab villages in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq.

"Virtually not a single house was spared. Half of those killed were elderly or disabled men and women and children," Amnesty said in a report.

It said another 40 were abducted, 17 of whom are still missing.

Among other witnesses, Amnesty spoke to a father who lost two sons aged 15 and 20 in the attack. Their 12-year-old brother was shot four times in the back but survived.

"We could not imagine the assailants would target the old and the sick but they did," one man told Amnesty, describing how his 66-year-old father was shot dead in his wheelchair.

The Yazidis, a religious minority which lives mainly in Iraq's Sinjar region, are neither Muslims nor Arabs and follow a unique faith despised by the Islamic State jihadist group.

In 2014, IS jihadists massacred Yazidis, forced tens of thousands of them to flee, captured thousands of girls and women as spoils of war and used them as sex slaves.

The UN has said the atrocities committed against the small community may amount to genocide.

"It is deeply troubling to see members of the Yezidi community, who have suffered so much at the hands of the IS, now themselves committing such brutal crimes," Donatella Rovera, Amnesty's senior crisis advisor, said.

The rights group said some witnesses accused Kurdish security forces running the area of turning a blind eye.

The report, which included investigations into other sectarian massacres, was issued to coincide with the first anniversary of IS' massive offensive in Iraq.

Jihadist-led fighters took over around a third of Iraq last June, bringing it to the brink of collapse.

Violence has continued since as Iraqi government forces and a wide range of foreign allies have battled IS, so far failing to break the back of the jihadist group.

"Looking back at the carnage and chaos that has taken hold in the year since the IS takeover, the picture that emerges is of an Iraq more fractured and bitterly divided than ever and rival factions hell-bent on destroying each other, with no regard for who is actually a fighter or a civilian," Rovera said.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Iraq: The first technology war of the 21st century






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








IRAQ WARS
US weighs expanded training for Iraqi forces, Sunnis
Washington (AFP) June 9, 2015
The Pentagon is drawing up plans to expand the training of Iraqi forces and Sunni tribal fighters in a step that could mean deploying more US troops, officials said Tuesday. The review of possible options comes in the wake of the Islamic State group's damaging defeat of Iraqi troops in the western city of Ramadi and after President Barack Obama said he was waiting for a Pentagon proposal to ... read more


IRAQ WARS
Scientists create eco-friendly jet fuel from sugarcane

Dutch 'paddy power' pulls electricity from rice fields

BESC, Mascoma develop revolutionary microbe for biofuel production

Food or fuel? How about both?

IRAQ WARS
South Koreans triumph in US robot challenge

Robots can recover from damage in minutes

Helping robots handle uncertainty

Breakthroughs in providing 'sensory feedback' from artificial limbs

IRAQ WARS
South Africa advancing wind energy plans

Why do consumers participate in wind energy programs

Germany's E.ON building wind energy portfolio

Ikea invests 600 mln euros to be energy independent by 2020

IRAQ WARS
China tech giant Baidu to develop driverless car: media

Tesla boss downplays government subsidy as 'pittance'

Self-driving cars vulnerable to cyberattack, experts warn

Can virtual drivers resembling the user increase trust in smart cars

IRAQ WARS
Stanford engineers develop a computer that operates on water droplets

Trees are source for high-capacity, soft and elastic batteries

Chemists discover key reaction process in sodium-oxygen battery

World's smallest spirals could guard against identity theft

IRAQ WARS
Rosatom road shows of world's largest fast neutron reactor

Nuclear SOE set for big China IPO

S. Africa to finalize nuclear procurement process by end of this year

Japan's Over Confidence Proved Deadly in Fukushima Disaster

IRAQ WARS
UNIDO: China needs greener agenda

Scotland sees room for green growth

Roadside air can be more charged than under a high-voltage power line

Japan PM to pledge 26% greenhouse gas cut

IRAQ WARS
Japanese tree plantations causing nitrogen pollution

Conservationists press Jakarta to follow industry lead on forests

Not all national parks are created equal

Native-American settlement modified Western New York forests




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.