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Amerli passes 70 days under siege from IS

Youth groups and other activists have staged protests in Baghdad to attract international attention to the suffering of Amerli’s residents, under siege by the Islamic State for 70 days now.
Iraqi security forces and Turkmen Shiite fighters, who volunteered to join the government forces, hold a position on August 4, 2014 in Amerli, some 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Baghdad, as the city has been completely surrounded by Islamic State (IS) Sunni militants for more than six weeks. Residents say a humanitarian disaster is imminent in the town, which has been without power and drinking water for days. IS fighters, who run large swathes of neighbouring Syria, launched a blistering offensive on
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On Aug. 21, banners were raised in Baghdad's Tahrir Square, pleading for the city of Amerli to be saved from the Islamic State (IS) blockade that has been ongoing for the past 70 days. The youths, activists and intellectuals staged a two-day demonstration to attract the attention of the international community and the Iraqi government to the suffering of the region to the north of Baghdad. Around 20,000 Iraqis from the Turkmen Shiite minority live in Amerli, where the IS blockade affects 36 surrounding villages.

One grim female protester raised a banner reading, “Did the military experts fail to put plans to free our cities where barbarian mobs are wreaking havoc?”

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