ISIS militants ‘kill 300 MORE Yazidi men and kidnap their families on second day of massacre in northern Iraq after they refuse to convert to Islam’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2726367/UK-deploys-spy-plane-Iraq.html#ixzz3Ah05KrsK

• Militants allegedly stormed into the small village of Kocho in northern Iraq
• They ‘spent five days trying to persuade villagers to take up their religion’
• When they refused, 82 men in ancient sect reportedly shot dead yesterday
• Women and girls were allegedly kidnapped during the one-hour ‘massacre’
• And today, further 312 Yazidis were allegedly killed and families abducted
• ‘There were corpses everywhere. Only two were alive,’ says Yazidi fighter
• Comes as Britain has sent spy plane over northern Iraq to monitor crisis
• Intelligence-gathering Rivet Joint aircraft examines phone conversations
• ISIS’s push to border has sent tens of thousands of Yazidis fleeing for lives
• Today, airstrikes targeted Mosul Dam, captured by militants on August 7

By Damien Gayle and Sophie Jane Evans for MailOnline

Published: 06:03 EST, 16 August 2014 | Updated: 13:59 EST, 17 August 2014

Islamic State militants today ‘massacred’ more than 300 Yazidi men – just one day after allegedly killing 82 others who refused to convert to Islam.

The insurgents stormed into the small village of Kocho in northern Iraq, where they spent five days trying to persuade villagers to take up their religion, local officials said.

When they refused, 82 male members of the ancient sect were reportedly rounded up and shot dead yesterday, while more than 100 women and girls were kidnapped.

And today, a further 312 Yazidis were allegedly murdered and their families abducted.

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Lucky ones: Islamic State militants today ‘massacred’ more than 300 Yazidi men – just one day after allegedly killing 82 others who refused to convert to Islam. Above, Yazidis are seen taking refuge in Dohuk Province

 

The terrified relatives were taken to the ISIS-controlled city of Tal Afar, near Mosul, a senior member of the Ministry of Peshmerga, in the Kurdish-controlled region of Iraq, told Sky News

This afternoon, Yazidi fighter Mohsen Tawwal told AFP via phone that he had seen hundreds of bodies sprawled across the ground after entering the village, around 12 miles south of Sinjar.

‘We made it into a part of Kocho village, where residents were under siege, but we were too late,’ he said.

‘There were corpses everywhere. We only managed to get two people out alive. The rest had all been killed.’

The news comes as U.S. officials said a mix of fighter planes and remotely piloted aircraft have attacked Islamic State militants near the Iraqi city of Irbil and the Mosul Dam.

In a statement, U.S. Central Command said today’s airstrikes were launched under the authority to support humanitarian efforts in Iraq, as well as to protect U.S. personnel and facilities.

Central Command says the nine airstrikes conducted so far had destroyed or damaged four armored personnel carriers, seven armed vehicles, two Humvees and an armored vehicle.

Scared: The insurgents stormed into the village of Kocho in northern Iraq, where they spent five days trying to persuade villagers to take up their religion, local officials said. Above, Yazidi men in Bajed Kadal refugee camp

Massacre: When they refused, 82 male members of the ancient sect were reportedly rounded up and shot dead yesterday, And today, a further 312 Yazidis were allegedly murdered and their families abducted.

Yazidi politician Mahma Khalil said the massacre of 394 Yazidis took place after militants besieged the village and gave residents a deadline by which they must convert to Islam or die.

He added: ‘When the residents refused to do this, the massacre took place.’

Those killed yesterday are believed to have been gunned down in the desert after being told they were being driven to the border.

Yesterday, senior Kurdish official Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters: ‘They arrived in vehicles and they started their killing this afternoon We believe it’s because of their creed: convert or be killed.’

In need of help: It emerged today that a fresh consignment of British aid has been flown in to areas of Iraq

The resident of a nearby village claimed to have been told details of the bloodshed by an Islamic State fighter.

‘He told me that the Islamic State had spent five days trying to persuade villagers to convert to Islam and that a long lecture was delivered about the subject today,’ said the villager.

‘He then said the men were gathered and shot dead. The women and girls were probably taken to Tal Afar because that is where the foreign fighters are.’

However, the account could not be independently confirmed. Kocho, like other areas held by the extremist IS group, is not accessible to journalists.

Iraq’s largest dam: Today, airstrikes struck the area around Mosul Dam (pictured) in a bid to drive out militants

Following the massacre, the U.S. responded with attacks by drone aircraft near Kocho destroying two IS armored vehicles which, according to Kurdish sources, had been involved in the attack.

Maisar Hajisalih, mayor of Sinjar region which includes the village, said one man survived the carnage and, although wounded, had called him once the jihadists had left.

The injured man said IS gathered all the villagers in the school on Friday afternon, then after a long lecture told them they had one final chance to convert.

When the Yazidis remained defiant, the militants appeared to relent and told the terrified residents they would be driven to Dohuk, a town outside their control.

They were put on a fleet of vehicles. But after a short drive the men were taken off and shot, together with some older women, before the remaining women and girls were driven away.

‘The international community watched this happen and there will be more mass graves found around Sinjar,’ said Khider Domle, a Yazidi activist. ‘It is shameful. We feel betrayed by the British and Americans.’

The Mail on Sunday initially revealed how heavily-armed jihadists besieged the walled village.

It comes as the Islamic State’s continued push to the border with the Kurdish region has sparked a series of U.S. airstrikes and sent tens of thousands of Yazidis and Christians fleeing for their lives.

Today, airstrikes struck the area around Iraq’s largest dam in a bid to drive out militants who captured it on August 7.

RIVET JOINT: THE RAF’S ‘NEW’ SPY PLANES… WHICH ARE 50 YEARS OLD

The RC-135 Rivet Joint is a reconnaissance aircraft equipped with an array of sensors to pick up electromagnetic signals and determine the locations of people on the ground.

They were bought in from the U.S. to replace the RAF’s own Nimrod spy planes, which were grounded after a crash in Afghanistan, which killed 14.

But there was embarrassment for the RAF this spring when it emerged that the ‘new’ jets, which were in fact built in 1964, had been gathering dust in a ‘boneyard’ for retired plans when military chiefs swooped in to buy them.

An RC-135 Rivet Joint, like those used by the RAF

It was reported in April that the air force’s own experts raised concerns about the jet’s ‘archaic heritage’ and lack of modern safety features, including effective insulation of fuel pipes.

Worse still, a lack of funds meant the RAF could not even aff

These issues meant the aircraft did not meet guidelines set by the Military Aviation Authority (MAA), the watchdog that issues safety certificates before planes enter RAF service.

That meant that rules had to be rewritten in advance of a refit. The RAF has since insisted that the planes have been refurbished and brought up to expected standards – including the double-cladding of all pipes.

Residents living near the Mosul Dam, a huge hydroelectric power station which stems the flow of the River Tigri, said the area had been hit numerous times, killing several militants.

However, it was not immediately clear whether the airstrikes they were being carried out by Iraq’s air force or the United States.

America last week began launching air strikes aimed at halting the advance of the Islamic State group across the country’s north.

The decision marked the first direct U.S. military intervention in Iraq since the last troops withdrew in 2011, and reflected growing international concern about the extremist group.

Earlier today, Britain said it had deployed a US-made spy plane over northern Iraq to monitor the humanitarian crisis and the movements of IS fighters.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed the intelligence-gathering Rivet Joint aircraft has carried out several flights over areas in north Iraq under threat from Islamic State militants.

It added the converted Boeing KC-135 tanker would monitor mobile phone calls and other communication.

‘Rivet Joint has helped build an understanding of the humanitarian situation in Northern Iraq and the associated ISIL (another name for the IS) threat,’ an MoD spokesman said.

‘The intelligence and insight it has provided has guided our humanitarian efforts, giving us an accurate picture of what is going on on the ground so that we could best deliver aid to the Yazidi people.’

The elderly reconnaissance plane, which were bought from the U.S. in 2010 but date from the mid-1960s, are the latest Western forces sent to the region to counter the Islamic State-led Sunni insurgency.

It also emerged today that a fresh consignment of British aid has been flown in to Iraqis fleeing the advance of Islamist extremists .

In a signal of the international concern, the United Nations Security Council last night unanimously approved a resolution designed to choke off the terrorists’ funding and recruitment.

It imposed sanctions including a travel ban and asset freeze on six prominent extremists and warned action could be taken against anyone held responsible for aiding the cause.

Sir Mark Lyall Grant, the UK’s UN ambassador, said the resolution represented a ‘comprehensive rejection’ of IS.

But he said it was only a first step and urged the international community to be ‘resolved, active and creative in considering what further measures should be taken to tackle this terrorist scourge’.

The vote came after European Union (EU) foreign ministers approved the arming by member states of Kurdish troops trying to resist the extremists’ push to expand their sphere of control in Iraq.

Emergency response: Staff from UK Aid watch as cargo is loaded on to an Antonov An-12B aircraft at East Midlands Airport as part of the UK Government’s humanitarian response to the crisis in Iraq

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Britain – which has so far only been transporting weapons provided by other countries – stood ready to ‘consider favourably’ any request by Kurdish leaders for it to join countries such as the U.S. and France by directly supplying military equipment.

The latest delivery of aid, sent from UK stores in Dubai and Gloucestershire, was made up of 8,000 cooking sets for some of the estimated half a million refugees in camps in Dahuk province.

They are aimed at allowing almost 40,000 people to cook for themselves rather than queuing at makeshift canteens in sweltering heat.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said: ‘Displaced Iraqi people who have managed to escape Mount Sinjar have walked many miles in searing heat, and now find themselves in camps cut off from their homes and without any possessions.

Intervention: Deck crew arm bombers on board the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush as they sail in the Persian Gulf, from where they have been staging attacks against Islamic State militants in northern Iraq

A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet takes off: Air strikes have hit the Mosul dam, which was captured by militants from the Islamic State just over a fortnight ago, killing some, according to local residents

One Airbus flight set off from Dubai, where the Department for International Development has its main aid stockpile, and another from East Midlands Airport.

The UK has so far committed £13million in new assistance in response to the crisis in Iraq.

Because it was adopted under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, military force is authorised to enforce the resolution but Russia has made clear its vote should not be seen as approval of such a move.

Hidden away: Yazidis who fled the violence from ISIS forces in Sinjar shelter on Mount Sinjar earlier this week

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have been at the forefront of efforts to halt the IS advance and their efforts have been praised for helping thousands of Yazidis flee from Mount Sinjar, where they had been trapped by the jihadists.

But they have complained about being outgunned by IS, leading to the offers of support from western governments.

Mr Hammond said IS represented a threat to civilisation and promised support for any inclusive new administration in Baghdad following the replacement as Iraqi prime minister of Nouri al-Maliki, who is accused by critics of fuelling sectarianism, helping the rise of IS.

There have been signals from political leaders from the Sunni majority that they could join a government led by new prime minister Haider Abadi.

The chairman of the Commons defence committee Rory Stewart – a former deputy governor of an Iraqi province who is visiting Kurdistan – warned a long-term strategy was needed and that Britain lacked adequate information about the situation.

The Tory MP said the present violence ‘feels like the beginnings of a civil war’.

‘We need far more information; I don’t personally feel we have enough diplomats on the ground who really understand who Isis are and what’s going on,’ he told Channel 4 News.

‘But we also need to accept that in the end Isis are a seriously bad force and anything that we can do to protect populations and contain their expansion we ought to.’

He said, however, that he believed it would be ‘very difficult’ to secure public and parliamentary support for UK air strikes after the experience of the aftermath of the 2003 invasion.