“They arrived in vehicles and they started their killing this afternoon,” senior Kurdish official Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters. “We believe it's because of their creed: convert or be killed.”

In addition to the murders, local women were kidnapped from the village, another Kurdish official source told Reuters. A local Izadi lawmaker confirmed the information.

According to BasNews, a Kurdish website, it was the Izadi minority village of Kojo some 20 km south of Sinjar that came under attack by the ISIL terrorists.

BasNews reports that around 80 men – the village’s whole male population – was slaughtered, while all the women were kidnapped.

The killings in the village lasted for about an hour, according to eyewitness reports, based on the testimony of Izadi MP Mahama Khalil who spoke to survivors. Apparently, the massacre followed a five day ultimatum to convert to the Takfiri ideas or die.

“[An ISIL terrorist] told me that the state had spent five days trying to persuade villagers to convert to Islam and that a long lecture was delivered about the subject today,” Reuters quotes a man from a neighboring village as saying. “He then said the men were gathered and shot dead. The women and girls were probably taken to Tal Afar because that is where the foreign fighters are.”

The ISIL terrorists– known for torture, public punishments and executions of those opposing them – have gained significant ground in both Syria and Iraq after its initial assault on the city of Mosul in mid-June.

Its presence continues to hang over the Iraqi capital Baghdad, although it seems to have halted after capturing key Sunni areas. ISIL has also been gaining ground in the autonomous region of Kurdistan.

Last week it was reported that extremists from the terrorist group killed at least 500 people, including women and children, Iraqi officials said. Some of the victims were buried alive.

NTJ/MB