Xelil was a self-appointed mayor of Sinjar of KurdishYazidi origin on November 11, 2015. Due to the presence of Daesh in Sinjar, the election was actually held in Alqosh in Nineveh Governorate.[2] Once returning to Sinjar and unearthing the mass graves of Yazidis, Xelil has called the actions of Daesh in the Sinjar region a "genocide of the Yazidis."[3]
