Yazidis: who are they and why is Islamic State pursuing them?

One of Iraq's oldest and most persecuted religious minorities, the Yazidi faces yet another genocide

Yazidi women take shelter at a school in the Kurdish city of Dohuk
(Image credit: SAFIN HAMED/AFP/Getty Images)

Over 40,000 Yazidis remain trapped on Mount Sinjar in Northern Iraq, awaiting humanitarian aid and military intervention against Islamic State militants that could "help prevent genocide".

Earlier this week, a Yazidi member of parliament in Baghdad made a tearful and passionate appeal on behalf of her people, begging the government to intervene. "An entire religion is being exterminated from the face of the Earth," she said.

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