Besieged town pleads for help

AN IRAQI town that has been surrounded by Islamic State fighters for more than two months has said that its residents face imminent slaughter unless American airstrikes break the siege.

Amerli, a predominantly Shia settlement, has held out against the militants, formerly known as Isis, for 70 days, pressing women and children onto the front line in desperate hand-to-hand fighting. With supplies dwindling and disease on the rise, however, the 17,000 residents have pleaded again for US help.

"I don’t know how long we can hold out, probably not long enough," said Weli Bakr al-Beyati, a town councillor who managed to flee to Kurdish-held territory in the north. "They have tried to take the town by storm four times, the last time ten days ago."

He said that Iraqi army helicopters were trying to resupply the town and were evacuating some of the wounded. The nearest friendly forces are peshmerga soldiers ten miles away.

A senior official still inside the town said that if Amerli fell the population would face "extreme catastrophe".

Isis fighters are bombarding the town daily with mortars, tank fire and anti-aircraft shells. Iraqi military aircraft managed to destroy one Isis tank but at least one more is still active.

The US military is believed to have considered airstrikes on Isis positions around Amerli, but it is still focused on strategic military targets as it assists the advance of Kurdish forces in the north.

In its determination to crush the resistance, Isis has brought up USmade tanks and armoured vehicles that were seized when the group captured Iraqi military supplies in Mosul in May.