'Convert to islam or die'

Islamic State militants have
threatened to kill more than 300 families
from Iraq's Yazidi ethnic minority unless they
convert to Islam, witnesses and a Yazidi
lawmaker told Reuters on Saturday.
The families in the villages of Koja, Hatimiya
and Qaboshi are surrounded by the Sunni
militants who are mounting an offensive
through northern Iraq which has sent tens of
thousands of Yazidis and Christians fleeing
for their lives, prompting international
outrage.
UK aid
The first consignment of British aid to
civilians sheltering in the Sinjar Mountains of
northern Iraq is expected to be dropped
"imminently", Foreign Secretary Philip
Hammond said on Saturday.
However, he warned that aid drops were only
a short-term solution and said officials were
looking at how to help members of the minority
Yazidi community who fled Islamic State
extremists to a safer place.
Two Royal Air Force (RAF) C-130 transport
planes took off from Britain earlier Saturday
carrying reusable filtration containers filled
with clean water, tents, tarpaulins and solar
lights that can also recharge mobile phones.
"We can expect a continuing drumbeat of
airdrop operations working in co-ordination
with the US and potentially with others as
well," Hammond told reporters following a
meeting of the government's emergency Cobra
committee.
"But more widely we are looking at how to
support this group of people and get them off
that mountain, how we are going to facilitate
their exit from what is a completely
unacceptable situation."
The United States has already started
dropping food and water on Mount Sinjar and
is conducting air strikes against militants,
although Britain has said it currently has no
plans for any military intervention.
Britain's Department for International
Development on Friday released $13m in
emergency humanitarian aid for Iraq.
This includes 2 million of emergency supplies
for 75 000 people, including the Yazidis.