BAGHDAD -- As Islamic militants rampage across northern Iraq, seizing vast areas of territory and driving hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, the Shiite Turkmens living in the hardscrabble town of Amirli have decided to stay and fight.
The wheat and barley farmers have taken up arms, dug trenches and posted gunmen on the rooftops -- and, against all odds, they have kept the Islamic State extremist group out of their town of 15,000 people. But residents said they are running low on food and water despite Iraqi army airlifts, and after more than six weeks under siege, they don't know how much longer they can hold out.
"We are using all of our efforts, all of our strength to protect our city and protect our homes," Nihad al-Bayati, an oil engineer now fighting on the outskirts of the town, said by phone. "There is no other solution. If we have to die, so be it."
Every three days he makes his way into the town to see his family. He travels on back roads, hoping to avoid shelling and snipers, and keeps an eye out for checkpoints manned by Islamic State militants.
In Amirli, his extended family -- 17 women and children -- share a single room. They have no electricity, and food and water are extremely scarce. During the day temperatures soar well above 110 degrees, and on some nights shells rain down on the town, forcing the family to huddle indoors in the darkness and stifling heat.
President Barack Obama's administration, which has carried out airstrikes and aid flights to protect the Kurdish autonomous region and religious minority groups elsewhere in northern Iraq, is weighing an aid operation for Amirli, according to U.S. defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations.
Residents said militants from the Islamic State first attacked the town in late June. When the townsmen fought them off, the militants retaliated by blowing up the main power station to the north, said Ali al-Bayati, head of the Turkmen Saving Foundation. The insurgents also destroyed several water wells on the outskirts of town, he said.
A few of the men on the front lines have access to power generators for one to two hours a day and are able to charge their phones, allowing them to maintain contact with the outside world.
Amirli, located some 105 miles north of Baghdad, has been surrounded by the insurgents since mid-July. The Iraqi military has been flying in food, medicine and weapons, but residents said the aid isn't enough, and that many are falling victim to disease and heat stroke.
They face a far worse fate if the town falls. The Islamic State group, which has taken control of a vast region straddling the Iraqi-Syrian border, views Shiites as apostates. The group has posted grisly videos and photos of mass killings and beheadings of those it opposes.
Amirli is no stranger to extremist violence. In 2007 a truck carrying 4.5 tons of explosives concealed under watermelons exploded in the town center, leveling dozens of mud-brick homes and killing at least 150 people, making it one of the deadliest single bombings in Iraq. That attack was blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq, a precursor to the Islamic State group.
Earlier this week, the U.N. special representative for Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, called for immediate action in Amirli "to prevent the possible massacre of its citizens."
Iraqi troops loyal to the Shiite-led government in Baghdad are trying to relieve the town by breaking the blockade with an incursion from the west. Their U.S.-made Apache helicopters have targeted militant positions with airstrikes, but ground troops faced fierce resistance from the insurgents, who have also slowed their progress with booby-trapped homes and roadside bombs.
Information for this article was contributed by Sinan Salaheddin and Robert Burns of The Associated Press.
A Section on 08/30/2014