Islamic State accused of ethnic cleansing

Islamic State militants are committing ethnic cleansing on a “historic scale” and threatening to wipe Iraq’s ancient minorities off the map forever, according to Amnesty International

ISLAMIC STATE ON THE MARCH

Jun 10: Militants of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) launch major offensive in northern Iraq, overrunning Mosul and advancing southwards before being stopped near Baghdad

Jun 29: ISIS renames itself Islamic State (IS) and declares Islamic caliphate covering much of Syria and Iraq

Jul 19: Iraqi Christians leave Mosul en masse after IS threatens to kill them unless they convert to Islam

Aug 2: IS fighters push further into northern Iraq, overwhelming Kurdish Peshmerga forces. Around 50,000 people from Yazidi minority become trapped on Mount Sinjar, prompting international aid operation


IRAQ DEATH TOLL
(UN, May-Aug*)
Iraqi forces
Civilians
2,417
1,531
886
1,737
1,186
551

Jun 2014: IS launches major offensive

1,420
1,265
155
603
196
799
May June July August


Aug 8: U.S. launches air strikes against IS militants near Irbil and around Mount Sinjar – its first direct military intervention in Iraq since withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011

Aug 18: Supported by U.S. air strikes, Iraqi troops and Peshmerga fighters retake strategic Mosul Dam

Aug 20: IS publishes online video showing beheading of captured American journalist James Foley

Aug 31: Iraqi and Kurdish forces break two-month siege of town of Amerli and seize militant stronghold of Suleiman Beg

Sep 1: UN says it will send investigators to Iraq to examine “acts of inhumanity on an unimaginable scale”



Sources: UNAMI Picture: AP  *Excludes figures for Anbar province