KIRKUK: Iraq launched a major operation on Saturday to liberate a militant-besieged town, as US Secretary of State John Kerry called for a global coalition to combat the “genocidal” militants.

The drive to break the more than two-month siege of Amerli came as an NGO said the Islamic State (IS), formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham (ISIS), which has surrounded the Shia Turkmen-majority town, sold at least 27 women in Syria after kidnapping them in Iraq.

Iraqi security forces, thousands of Shia militiamen and Kurdish peshmerga fighters are all taking part in the operation to lift the jihadist blockade of Amerli.

The town has been besieged since IS-led militants launched a major offensive in Iraq in June, sources said.

Residents face major shortages of food and water, and are in danger both because of their Shia sect and their resistance to the militants, which has drawn harsh retribution elsewhere.

Army Staff Lieutenant General Abdulamir al-Zaidi said the anti-militant operation had been launched with Iraqi air support, and vowed that “we will be victorious over them”.

Published in Dawn, August 31th, 2014