Polish humanitarian aid reaches northern Iraq

Christian refugees encamp on the area of archdiocese of Erbil, in Erbil, Iraq, 16 August 2014. German Foreign Minister Steinmeier on 16 August assured displaced Yezidis of additional humanitarian assistance. He was speaking during a tour of a refugee camp sheltering Yezidis in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan. Meanwhile, Islamic State (IS) militants have killed around 100 Yezidi men near the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, after they refused to convert to Islam, surviving residents said on 16 August. EPA/MICHAEL KAPEELER

The plane, which took off from the Powidz airbase in Poland touched down in northern Iraq on 17 August, with aid intended for “victims of religious persecution and ethnic cleansing,” the foreign ministry statement says.

The aid includes food, tents, blankets, camp beds, sleeping bags and first aid, and was donated provided by the Caritas charity and Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The delivery of aid comes after foreign ministers of the European Union unanimously endorsed, last Friday, efforts of individual member states to provide military support to beleaguered Kurds in northern Iraq, under attack from ISIS Islamic militants.

On Saturday, witnesses said ISIS militants massacred 80 people, most of them members of the Yazidi religious minority, during a raid on the northern Iraqi village of Kocho.

Aid agencies are increasing humanitarian operations in Iraq, in response to the recent UN declaration that 1.2 million people have fled their homes this year to escape attacks by the militants. (pg)