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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Fires have been raging in the crop fields surrounding the Yezidi village of Kocho in Shingal since Saturday, killing at least two and leaving at least one other in a critical condition. The blaze also threatens to engulf suspected Yezidi mass graves in the area.
Two Yezidis – Barzan Omar Kabuu and Sheikh Sa’id Sabri – are known to have died on Saturday night while trying to extinguish the fire.
Iraqi troops began evacuating civilians from Kocho and other areas of Shingal on Tuesday, according to a tweet by Ezidi Press. Several villages are in danger of being completely surrounded by the flames.
At least two dunams of land were burned on Tuesday alone.
The blaze, exacerbated by strong winds, also tore through the site of a suspected mass grave, where the remains of 30 Yezidis, killed during the 2014 Islamic State (ISIS) genocide, are thought to lie.
In the village of Kocho alone, hundreds of men, adolescent boys, and older women were killed in August 2014, while more than 700 women and children were seized and taken to other ISIS-held areas.
Kocho is the village of Nobel laureate Nadia Murad, a Yezidi human rights advocate and survivor of abduction and slavery at the hands of ISIS. Members of her family are believed to be buried in Kocho’s mass graves.
The process of unearthing these graves and identifying the remains began earlier this year with support from the United Nations.
Kocho’s graves have been battered by elements with heavy rains and flooding during an exceptionally wet winter which swept away some of the Yezidi remains. The families of victims have repeatedly called for action to protect the sites.
So far, the remains appear to be unscathed by the fire.
“All the mass graves of Kocho village have been covered with soil. The dried grass on the surface has burned. It has not harmed the bones,” local resident Ahmed Khalil told Rudaw.
The incident in Kocho is only the latest in a rash of devastating fires which have swept the territories disputed by Erbil and Baghdad. To date, over half a million dunams of land have been charred.
Locals believe ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for several acts of arson nationwide, was responsible for the fire.
Two Yezidis – Barzan Omar Kabuu and Sheikh Sa’id Sabri – are known to have died on Saturday night while trying to extinguish the fire.
Iraqi troops began evacuating civilians from Kocho and other areas of Shingal on Tuesday, according to a tweet by Ezidi Press. Several villages are in danger of being completely surrounded by the flames.
At least two dunams of land were burned on Tuesday alone.
The blaze, exacerbated by strong winds, also tore through the site of a suspected mass grave, where the remains of 30 Yezidis, killed during the 2014 Islamic State (ISIS) genocide, are thought to lie.
In the village of Kocho alone, hundreds of men, adolescent boys, and older women were killed in August 2014, while more than 700 women and children were seized and taken to other ISIS-held areas.
Kocho is the village of Nobel laureate Nadia Murad, a Yezidi human rights advocate and survivor of abduction and slavery at the hands of ISIS. Members of her family are believed to be buried in Kocho’s mass graves.
The process of unearthing these graves and identifying the remains began earlier this year with support from the United Nations.
Kocho’s graves have been battered by elements with heavy rains and flooding during an exceptionally wet winter which swept away some of the Yezidi remains. The families of victims have repeatedly called for action to protect the sites.
So far, the remains appear to be unscathed by the fire.
“All the mass graves of Kocho village have been covered with soil. The dried grass on the surface has burned. It has not harmed the bones,” local resident Ahmed Khalil told Rudaw.
The incident in Kocho is only the latest in a rash of devastating fires which have swept the territories disputed by Erbil and Baghdad. To date, over half a million dunams of land have been charred.
Locals believe ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for several acts of arson nationwide, was responsible for the fire.
With reporting from Tahsin Qasim
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