Hundreds of Yazidi people were murdered during the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) siege of Sinjar.
The bloodiest massacre happened on 3 August 2014 in the village of Koço. After the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Peshmerga left the region, the village remained under siege for 12 days. Hundreds of elderly people who could not leave the village were murdered while young people and children were imprisoned.
According to the Cizre Region Yazidi House, in Koço ISIS murdered 505 people, including 85 women and children, and abducted 1,206. Seven hundred and ten were rescued, but the fates of the rest are unknown.
After the siege, mass graves covered the region around Koço village. Eighteen mass graves, in which 407 Yazidis were buried, were found. Years later 104 of the bodies could be identified and were delivered to their families in the village. They were buried in a ceremony seven years after their passing.
