20K Trapped Iraqis Rescued From Mountain

Yazidis aided by Kurdish rebels
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 10, 2014 5:29 PM CDT
20K Trapped Iraqis Rescued from Mountain
Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community settle at the camp of Bajid Kandala at Feeshkhabour town near the Syria-Iraq border, in Iraq, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014.   (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)

Today brought word from officials that militants in Iraq killed some 500 members of the Yazidi minority community, but much better news is also emerging: With tens of thousands of Yazidis trapped on a mountain by militants, about 20,000 of them have managed to flee within the past 24 hours, the Guardian reports. With help from Syrian Kurdish rebels and US airstrikes, the refugees traveled over a mountain range into Syria before arriving in Iraqi Kurdistan, the paper explains. They were greeted with supplies from Kurdish officials. But CNN reports via an Iraqi official that there were previously up to 60,000 Yazidis stuck on Mount Sinjar, leaving tens of thousands still trapped. (More Yazidi stories.)

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