7 August 2014
Last updated at 18:47 ET
More on This Story
About a quarter of Iraq's Christians fled their homes after Qaraqosh was taken
Many members of the Yazadi minority have also left their homes, some taking refuge in nearby mountains.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply appalled".
"The members of the Security Council call on the international community to support the government and people of Iraq and to do all it can to help alleviate the suffering of the population affected by the current conflict in Iraq," said UK ambassador to the UN Mark Lyall Grant. after Thursday evening's meeting.
Meanwhile,, the US has warned that the situation for Iraq's minority groups threatens to become a "humanitarian catastrophe".
But the White House has refused to confirm a New York Times report that the US is considering air strikes to help the Yazidi community.
IS, a Sunni Muslim group formerly known as Isis, has been gaining ground in northern Iraq since it launched its onslaught in June. It also controls parts of Syria.
IS says it has created an Islamic state in the territory it controls.
In other developments:
Kurdish forces, known as the Peshmerga, have been fighting the IS militants' advance in the area around Qaraqosh for weeks, but on Wednesday night it appears they abandoned their posts.
"It's a catastrophe, a tragic situation: tens of thousands of
terrified people are being displaced as we speak," said Joseph Thomas,
the Chaldean archbishop of the northern city of Kirkuk.
Eyewitnesses in Qaraqosh said IS militants were taking down crosses in churches and burning religious manuscripts.
Pope Francis has made an impassioned appeal to the international community to do much more to address the crisis.
Last month, hundreds of Christian families fled nearby Mosul after the Islamist rebels gave them an ultimatum to convert to Islam, pay a special tax or be executed.
Iraq is home to one of the world's most ancient Christian communities, but numbers have dwindled amid growing sectarian violence since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Plight of the Yazidis About 50,000 Yazidis are thought to have been trapped in the mountains after fleeing the town of Sinjar over the weekend - although the UN says some of them have now been rescued.
Almost 200,000 civilians have been displaced from Sinjar town, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned.
Those trapped on the mountain are facing dehydration, and 40 children are reported to have died already.
Iraq's minorities
Iraq's Christian population has plummeted in recent years
Christians
Iraqi volunteers have joined government forces to fight against IS militants
IS controls parts of Iraq and Syria and says it has created an Islamic state
IS is also thought to be behind a string of car bombs in Baghdad on Wednesday
Tens of thousands of people from the ancient Yazidi community have left their homes due to the IS offensive
IS views both Christians and Yazidis as infidels
UN Security Council condemns attacks by Iraqi jihadists
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28699832
7 August 2014
Last updated at 18:47 ET
About a quarter of Iraq's Christians fled their homes after Qaraqosh was taken
Many members of the Yazadi minority have also left their homes, some taking refuge in nearby mountains.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply appalled".
"The members of the Security Council call on the international community to support the government and people of Iraq and to do all it can to help alleviate the suffering of the population affected by the current conflict in Iraq," said UK ambassador to the UN Mark Lyall Grant. after Thursday evening's meeting.
Meanwhile,, the US has warned that the situation for Iraq's minority groups threatens to become a "humanitarian catastrophe".
But the White House has refused to confirm a New York Times report that the US is considering air strikes to help the Yazidi community.
IS, a Sunni Muslim group formerly known as Isis, has been gaining ground in northern Iraq since it launched its onslaught in June. It also controls parts of Syria.
IS says it has created an Islamic state in the territory it controls.
In other developments:
Kurdish forces, known as the Peshmerga, have been fighting the IS militants' advance in the area around Qaraqosh for weeks, but on Wednesday night it appears they abandoned their posts.
"It's a catastrophe, a tragic situation: tens of thousands of
terrified people are being displaced as we speak," said Joseph Thomas,
the Chaldean archbishop of the northern city of Kirkuk.
Eyewitnesses in Qaraqosh said IS militants were taking down crosses in churches and burning religious manuscripts.
Pope Francis has made an impassioned appeal to the international community to do much more to address the crisis.
Last month, hundreds of Christian families fled nearby Mosul after the Islamist rebels gave them an ultimatum to convert to Islam, pay a special tax or be executed.
Iraq is home to one of the world's most ancient Christian communities, but numbers have dwindled amid growing sectarian violence since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Plight of the Yazidis About 50,000 Yazidis are thought to have been trapped in the mountains after fleeing the town of Sinjar over the weekend - although the UN says some of them have now been rescued.
Almost 200,000 civilians have been displaced from Sinjar town, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned.
Those trapped on the mountain are facing dehydration, and 40 children are reported to have died already.
Iraq's minorities
Iraq's Christian population has plummeted in recent years
Christians
Iraqi volunteers have joined government forces to fight against IS militants
IS controls parts of Iraq and Syria and says it has created an Islamic state
IS is also thought to be behind a string of car bombs in Baghdad on Wednesday
Tens of thousands of people from the ancient Yazidi community have left their homes due to the IS offensive
IS views both Christians and Yazidis as infidels
About a quarter of Iraq's Christians fled their homes after Qaraqosh was taken
The
United Nations Security Council has condemned attacks by Iraqi
jihadists , after hundreds of thousands of people from minority groups
fled from militants.
The Islamic State (IS) group has seized Qaraqosh, Iraq's biggest Christian town, prompting residents to flee.Many members of the Yazadi minority have also left their homes, some taking refuge in nearby mountains.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply appalled".
"The members of the Security Council call on the international community to support the government and people of Iraq and to do all it can to help alleviate the suffering of the population affected by the current conflict in Iraq," said UK ambassador to the UN Mark Lyall Grant. after Thursday evening's meeting.
Meanwhile,, the US has warned that the situation for Iraq's minority groups threatens to become a "humanitarian catastrophe".
Tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians and Yazidis are understood to have fled their homes, as James Robbins reports
IS, a Sunni Muslim group formerly known as Isis, has been gaining ground in northern Iraq since it launched its onslaught in June. It also controls parts of Syria.
IS says it has created an Islamic state in the territory it controls.
In other developments:
- A suicide bombing in a Shia Muslim area of Baghdad killed at least 14 people
- IS said it had captured the strategic Mosul dam on the Tigris river - a claim denied by Kurdish forces who insist they are still in control
- At least six people died in a car bomb attack near a Shia mosque in the northern city of Kirkurk
Kurdish forces, known as the Peshmerga, have been fighting the IS militants' advance in the area around Qaraqosh for weeks, but on Wednesday night it appears they abandoned their posts.
Canon Andrew White: "The international community has got to wake up to the needs of the people"
Eyewitnesses in Qaraqosh said IS militants were taking down crosses in churches and burning religious manuscripts.
Pope Francis has made an impassioned appeal to the international community to do much more to address the crisis.
Last month, hundreds of Christian families fled nearby Mosul after the Islamist rebels gave them an ultimatum to convert to Islam, pay a special tax or be executed.
Iraq is home to one of the world's most ancient Christian communities, but numbers have dwindled amid growing sectarian violence since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Plight of the Yazidis About 50,000 Yazidis are thought to have been trapped in the mountains after fleeing the town of Sinjar over the weekend - although the UN says some of them have now been rescued.
Almost 200,000 civilians have been displaced from Sinjar town, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned.
Those trapped on the mountain are facing dehydration, and 40 children are reported to have died already.
Iraq's Christian population has plummeted in recent years
- The majority are Chaldeans, part of the Catholic Church
- Numbers have fallen from around 1.5 million since the US-led invasion in 2003 to 350,000-450,000
- In Nineveh, they live mainly in towns such as Qaraqosh (also known as Baghdida), Bartella, Al-Hamdaniya and Tel Kef
- Secretive group whose origins and ethnicity are subject to continuing debate
- Religion incorporates elements of many faiths, including Zoroastrianism
- Many Muslims and other groups view Yazidis as devil worshippers
- There are estimated to be around 500,000 Yazidis worldwide, most living in Iraq's Nineveh plains
Iraqi volunteers have joined government forces to fight against IS militants
IS controls parts of Iraq and Syria and says it has created an Islamic state
IS is also thought to be behind a string of car bombs in Baghdad on Wednesday
Tens of thousands of people from the ancient Yazidi community have left their homes due to the IS offensive
IS views both Christians and Yazidis as infidels
Struggle for Iraq
-
A member of Iraq's Yazidi religious minority, trapped with thousands of others on a mountain as Islamist militants advance, describes their plight for BBC News.Yazidi ordeal
-
'Jihadistan'
-
Shia take on Isis
-
Key Sunni players
-
Shrines destroyed
-
'Dangerous development'
-
What does Isis want?
-
Race against time
-
What will Isis do next?
-
End of Maliki?
-
Regional alarm
-
Sunni Arab leaders
-
Life under Isis
-
Inequality drives rebellion
-
Mapping jihad
-
Failing state?
-
Reprisals stoke conflict
-
Maps illustrate conflict
-
Jihadi groups
-
What might US air strikes achieve?
-
Mortal blow to Baghdad
-
ISIS eyes resources
-
Is this the end of Iraq?
-
A boost for Kurdish aims?
About a quarter of Iraq's Christians fled their homes after Qaraqosh was taken
The
United Nations Security Council has condemned attacks by Iraqi
jihadists , after hundreds of thousands of people from minority groups
fled from militants.
The Islamic State (IS) group has seized Qaraqosh, Iraq's biggest Christian town, prompting residents to flee.Many members of the Yazadi minority have also left their homes, some taking refuge in nearby mountains.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply appalled".
"The members of the Security Council call on the international community to support the government and people of Iraq and to do all it can to help alleviate the suffering of the population affected by the current conflict in Iraq," said UK ambassador to the UN Mark Lyall Grant. after Thursday evening's meeting.
Meanwhile,, the US has warned that the situation for Iraq's minority groups threatens to become a "humanitarian catastrophe".
Tens of thousands of Iraqi Christians and Yazidis are understood to have fled their homes, as James Robbins reports
IS, a Sunni Muslim group formerly known as Isis, has been gaining ground in northern Iraq since it launched its onslaught in June. It also controls parts of Syria.
IS says it has created an Islamic state in the territory it controls.
In other developments:
- A suicide bombing in a Shia Muslim area of Baghdad killed at least 14 people
- IS said it had captured the strategic Mosul dam on the Tigris river - a claim denied by Kurdish forces who insist they are still in control
- At least six people died in a car bomb attack near a Shia mosque in the northern city of Kirkurk
Kurdish forces, known as the Peshmerga, have been fighting the IS militants' advance in the area around Qaraqosh for weeks, but on Wednesday night it appears they abandoned their posts.
Canon Andrew White: "The international community has got to wake up to the needs of the people"
Eyewitnesses in Qaraqosh said IS militants were taking down crosses in churches and burning religious manuscripts.
Pope Francis has made an impassioned appeal to the international community to do much more to address the crisis.
Last month, hundreds of Christian families fled nearby Mosul after the Islamist rebels gave them an ultimatum to convert to Islam, pay a special tax or be executed.
Iraq is home to one of the world's most ancient Christian communities, but numbers have dwindled amid growing sectarian violence since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Plight of the Yazidis About 50,000 Yazidis are thought to have been trapped in the mountains after fleeing the town of Sinjar over the weekend - although the UN says some of them have now been rescued.
Almost 200,000 civilians have been displaced from Sinjar town, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned.
Those trapped on the mountain are facing dehydration, and 40 children are reported to have died already.
Iraq's Christian population has plummeted in recent years
- The majority are Chaldeans, part of the Catholic Church
- Numbers have fallen from around 1.5 million since the US-led invasion in 2003 to 350,000-450,000
- In Nineveh, they live mainly in towns such as Qaraqosh (also known as Baghdida), Bartella, Al-Hamdaniya and Tel Kef
- Secretive group whose origins and ethnicity are subject to continuing debate
- Religion incorporates elements of many faiths, including Zoroastrianism
- Many Muslims and other groups view Yazidis as devil worshippers
- There are estimated to be around 500,000 Yazidis worldwide, most living in Iraq's Nineveh plains
Iraqi volunteers have joined government forces to fight against IS militants
IS controls parts of Iraq and Syria and says it has created an Islamic state
IS is also thought to be behind a string of car bombs in Baghdad on Wednesday
Tens of thousands of people from the ancient Yazidi community have left their homes due to the IS offensive
IS views both Christians and Yazidis as infidels
Struggle for Iraq
-
A member of Iraq's Yazidi religious minority, trapped with thousands of others on a mountain as Islamist militants advance, describes their plight for BBC News.
-
'Jihadistan'
-
Shia take on Isis
-
Key Sunni players
-
Shrines destroyed
-
'Dangerous development'
-
What does Isis want?
-
Race against time
-
What will Isis do next?
-
End of Maliki?
-
Regional alarm
-
Sunni Arab leaders
-
Life under Isis
-
Inequality drives rebellion
-
Mapping jihad
-
Failing state?
-
Reprisals stoke conflict
-
Maps illustrate conflict
-
Jihadi groups
-
What might US air strikes achieve?
-
Mortal blow to Baghdad
-
ISIS eyes resources
-
Is this the end of Iraq?
-
A boost for Kurdish aims?
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