Islamic State advance by Iraqi

An Islamic State group offensive that began on
Saturday around Iraq' s Sinjar province, west of
Mosul, has seen Kurdish military forces suffer a
serious military setback and triggered a
humanitarian crisis in the province.
In the early hours of Sunday morning , fighters from
the Islamic State attacked the predominantly Yazidi
town of Sinjar, quickly forcing Kurdish Peshmerga
units to withdraw .
The same offensive saw the town of Zumar and at
least one oilfield also fall into Islamic State hands the
previous day .
As Sinjar fell , Yazidi residents , who make up over
three -quarters of the population, fled in huge
numbers , fearing violent persecution by Islamic
State .
Yazidism is an ancient but relatively small religion
which the Islamic State group views as heretic ,
calling Yazidis devil worshippers.
Most Yazidis chose to flee the spiritually important
town of Sinjar rather than wait to see how they would
be treated by fighters who have previously shown
themselves to be brutally intolerant of religious
minorities .
Families headed to the Sinjar mountains, many on
foot, where they remain without water, food or
shelter . One resident of Sinjar, who wanted to remain
anonymous for fear of falling into the hands of
Islamic State fighters, contacted Al Jazeera by phone
from the mountain where he has fled to with his wife
and children .
" We need help ," he said , sounding clearly distressed .
" There's no food, no water, no Peshmerga. If nobody
comes to help us, in two days everybody 's going to
be dead. There [ are] old people here, children.
[Islamic State] is about seven kilometres away and
they' re saying if we don 't return to the town and
convert to Islam they will come up and start killing
people . They were killing our women and children. "
The United Nations Special Representative for Iraq,
Nickolay Mladenov, warned that " a humanitarian
tragedy is unfolding in Sinjar " .
Estimates vary as to how many people have been
displaced from Sinjar and the surrounding area , but it
is thought to be up to 200 , 000 . The UN has described
the humanitarian situation in the province as "dire" ,
especially for those trapped on Sinjar mountain who,
at the time this was written, were surrounded by
Islamic State fighters.
While Sinjar lies within the area of land that was
previously claimed by both Baghdad and Erbil, it has
been under Kurdish control for many years and
represents the first loss of traditionally Kurdish
territory to the Islamic State group.
Some Kurdish media outlets have reported that a
Peshmerga counter- offensive aimed at relieving
those trapped and retaking the town has already
begun, but it has not been possible to confirm these
reports .