Yazidi men and boys in the town of Bashiqa north east of Mosul are rebuilding a shrine destroyed by Islamic State as they wait for the return of women from their community taken captive years ago by the jihadis.

They are hoping to celebrate their first religious festival for three years in the Malak Miran shrine next month but the big celebration will happen after the release of Yazidi women, taken by Islamic State when it overran the plain of Nineveh in 2014.

More than 3,000 Yazidis, mostly from Sinjar to the west of Bashiqa, were killed — with more than half shot, beheaded or burned alive — and about 6,800 taken for sex slaves or fighters.