Militant Slaughter Sparks Mass Exodus Into Iraq Mountains
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Thousands of people from Iraq’s Yezidi religious group are stranded in northern mountains, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund, as they sought to escape execution and rape by Islamist militants.
About 140,000 people fled from regions in the north this week, including the town of Sinjar, where most of the population is Yezidi, according to UNICEF. While most escaped to Kurdish-controlled areas, about 50,000 people, half of them children, are stuck in the mountains, UNICEF spokeswoman Juliette Touma said by phone from Iraq.