Iraqis leave Mt Sinjar as IS siege broken

Kurdish Peshmerga forces have broken a months-long siege by IS fighters in northwestern Iraq. Source: AAP

KURDISH Peshmerga forces have broken a months-long siege by Islamic State fighters in northwestern Iraq, allowing thousands of trapped Yezidis to leave Mount Sinjar.

"THE evacuation of Yezidis has begun," Holger Geisler, a spokesman for the Council of Yezidis in Germany, said.

"They are being brought away in cars."The Yezidis were heading to Dohuk, a main city in Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan, but some were planning to return to their houses in the Sinjar region, Geisler said.Geisler said there were about 7000 civilians and 3000 Yezidi fighters on the mountain.Thousands of Yezidis fled in August to the mountain after Islamic State seized the northern town of Sinjar.The extremist Sunni group regards Yezidis, followers of an ancient faith, as devil-worshippers.The Peshmerga launched a major offensive on Wednesday backed by US-led airstrikes to retake the area of Sinjar.Kurds said their forces had retaken at least seven villages and the strategic town of Zumar as part of the advance on Sinjar."The road is now open to Zumar, and anyone can now use the road to leave Jabal (Mount) Sinjar," Peshmerga spokesman Jabar Yawar said by telephone from Erbil."People should start leaving by now."He called it a "major humanitarian victory."At least 20 IS militants apparently surrendered following the Peshmerga's push onto Mount Sinjar, a Kurdish commander said."Some of them hold Arab and foreign nationalities," Mahma Khalil, a field commander in Sinjar, told independent Iraqi site Alsumaria News.

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