Barzani urges Baghdad to secure Sinjar, begin reconstruction 12 years after ISIS attack

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has called on the Iraqi federal government to restore security in Sinjar, launch reconstruction and implement the district's stability agreement in coordination with the regional administration, marking 12 years since ISIS carried out a mass killing of the Yazidi community there. In a written statement issued on the anniversary of the August 2014 attack, Barzani said the killings remain an open wound in the conscience of the Kurdish people. He noted that 12 years on, Yazidis continue to pay the price of political disputes and the presence of illegal armed groups in the district, where they once formed the majority of the population. Barzani said a team within the Kurdistan Region's Prime Ministry office will continue working to determine the fate of abducted Yazidis, adding that efforts will not cease as long as a single captive remains unaccounted for. The statement also thanked residents of Duhok and the Badinan region for hosting Yazidi displaced persons during the crisis. The prime minister reiterated a call on the international community to formally recognize ISIS's crime against the Yazidis as genocide.