Iraq: Islamic State members release 350 members of Yazidi minority in northern Iraq
An elderly man is aided by Kurdish security forces. Credit: Reuters
Around 350 members of Iraq’s Yazidi minority have been freed by Islamic State militants in northern Iraq.
The captives - delivered to safety in the Kurdish-controlled region - were almost entirely elderly, disabled or unwell, and included several infants with serious illnesses.
A man in his 70s, among those released, said he and others forced onto a bus yesterday by the militant group feared they were going to be executed.
Instead, they were driven to the IS-controlled Shirqat area, spending the night there before being delivered southwest of the Kurdish city of Kirkuk.