Iraqi Yazidi lawmaker undergoes surgery in Istanbul after surviving helicopter crash

ISTANBUL

Feyyan Dahil speaks during a press statement at the Iraqi Parliament, Aug. 5. AA Photo

Iraqi Yazidi lawmaker Feyyan Dahil, who was brought to Turkey after being injured in a helicopter crash while carrying aid to displaced members of her community in northern Iraq, underwent surgery in an Istanbul hospital on Aug. 13.

Doctors have said Dahil had a broken leg and two broken ribs but her condition was not life-threatening. She will undergo second surgery on Aug. 14.

Dahil had made a chilling appeal for help at the Iraqi Parliament last week, explaining in tears that the Yazidi community was being indiscriminately massacred by militants of the so-called Islamic State and women were bring abducted as concubines.

The massacre triggered yet another huge flight and refugee influx, with tens of thousands of Yazidis seeking refuge in camps near the Syrian and Turkish borders.

Dahil was accompanied by a New York Times reporter and a photographer when she suffered the helicopter accident on Aug. 12, both of whom were also brought to Turkey for treatment. The pilot of the helicopter died in the crash.

The aircraft was dropping food and other supplies to Yazidis who have taken refuge in the remote mountains of northern Iraq, as they flee from militants of the Islamic State.