The United States has reportedly conducted air strikes and dropped humanitarian aid in the Iraqi town of Amerli to save an ethnic minority in the area that faces the threat of massacre at the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
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Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said on Saturday that the U.S. was conducting "coordinated air strikes" and dropping aids along with Australia, France and the United Kingdom to support the humanitarian operation, reported the CNN.
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ISIS captured Amerli, 70 miles north of Baquba, in mid-June and vowed to push out the Shiite Turkmen which from the ethnic minority.
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United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said last week that the residents of Amerli have been living in harsh conditions without food, water, electricity and a complete absence of medical facilities. She had also warned that they face the risk of a massacre.
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Turkmen are nomadic people who speak Turkic and share cultural ties with Turkey. About 3 percent of Iraq's population consists of Shia and Sunni Turkmen. They have been subjected to violence at the hands of Sunni extremists in the past too.