Daesh Continues Genocide Against Religious, Ethnic Groups - US State Dept Report

The Daesh jihadist group, also known as Daesh, has continued genocide against religious and ethnic minorities on the territories under its control in Iraq and Syria, the US Department of Sate said in its annual International Religious Freedom Report on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The State Department said the terrorists engaged in torture, enslavement and sexual abuse of people. In addition, Daesh, which claims to be a Sunni group, continued suicide bombings against Shia Muslims, according to the report.

"Daesh continued to pursue a brutal strategy of what Secretary Kerry judged to constitute genocide against Yezidis, Christians, Shia, and other vulnerable groups in the territory it controlled," the report stated.

The report noted that Daesh terrorists executed more than 60 people in Syria alone in 2015.

"Daesh killed more than 60 Christians and other members of religious minorities through public executions, crucifixions and beheadings of men, women, and children on charges of apostasy, blasphemy, and cursing God," it said.

The US authorities noted that Boko Haram terrorist group, which pledged allegiance to Daesh and operates in the Lake Chad region of Africa, launched violent attacks on Christians and Muslims who spoke against them.

In June, the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic stated that the Daesh militants committed genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Yazidis, an independent religious community concentrated primarily in Iraq’s Nineveh province.

Daesh is a terrorist group that has captured large areas of land in Syria and Iraq, where it has proclaimed a caliphate. The terror group is outlawed in the United States, Russia and in several other countries.