John Kerry, the US Secretary of State, has accused the Islamic State militant group of committing genocide against minority groups in Iraq and Syria.
Kerry said on Thursday in Washington that the genocide also extended to the Christians, Yazidis and Shia Muslims.
He said: “We know, for example, that in August 2014, Daesh killed hundreds of Yazidi men and older women, trapped tens of thousands on Mount Sinjar.
“Without our intervention it was clear they would have been tortured.”
Kerry said the Sunni extremist group is also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed against these groups and others.
He, however, admitted that the US and its allies had been unable to compile a complete record of atrocities.
He said: “Over the past several months a review had been conducted.”
Kerry said Islamic State had executed Christians in Mosul, Iraq, and other places solely because of their faith, while the group had forced Christian women and girls into sexual slavery.
dpa/NAN.