Following commands issued by Islamist- extremist commander Abdul Jabbar Akidi, attacked Tall `Aran and Tall Hasel, killing and abducting many people and forcing others to leave.

Videos posted online by the militant groups showed hundreds of women and children in Tall `Aran, lying dead on the ground after their homes and plant fields were bombed.

In a leaked video of a meeting of militant groups in Aleppo, Akidi had threatened to attack Kurds if it was required by their plans.

Residents said the brutal attack on their homes reminded them of the Kurdish genocide, called al-Anfal Campaign, committed by slain Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the late 1980s.

The genocidal was a deadly campaign against the Kurdish people (and other non-Arab populations) in northern Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein and headed by Ali Hassan al-Majid in the final stages of Iran-Iraq War.