Baghdad (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Islamic State militias are reported to have killed hundreds of Yazidi prisoners. The massacre took place in recent days in the district of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, an Islamists stronghold in northern Iraq. The Yazidi Progress Party press office reports that "at least 300 prisoners" were executed on May 1 last near the city.
Instead, Baghdad says the number of victims is "around 200". Commenting on the news, the Iraqi vice-president Osama al-Nujaifi spoke of a "horrible and barbaric" act.
Last year, the Islamic State militias (IS, or Daesh in the Arabic acronym) conquered several territories in northern and western Iraq; during their advance they captured thousands of Yazidi and members of other religious minorities.
At present there are no specific details on the carnage committed by the jihadists, the reasons why it was done and the manner in which it was perpetrated. Many of the prisoners had been imprisoned for a long time in the Mosul area. According to Kurdish sources, the bodies were "piled into a pit" in Alo Antar near the al-Ayyadiya highway.
The Yazidis are a monotheistic religions minority, which incorporates different elements present in other faiths and for this reason is considered heretical and its followers infidels by the Islamic State. Thousands have fled their homes and lands in the district of Sinjar, Nineveh province in northern Iraq, seeking refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan. Already in recent months hundreds of people have been killed, while women have been exploited as sex slaves by militiamen.
Also this weekend in Iraq, a bomb exploded near a popular restaurant in the Shiite district of Karrada, killing at least 13 people. At least six Iraqi