DHAKA: Iraqi Kurdish security forces have opened a road to Sinjar Mountain in northwestern Iraq, rescuing more than 5,000 Yazidis trapped there after running away from fighters from the Islamic State (IS) group, a Kurdish army spokesman has told Al Jazeera.

"I can confirm that we succeeded in reaching the mountains and opening a road for the refugees," said Halgord Hikmet, a spokesman for the peshmergas the Kurdish security forces.

Hikmet said that recent airstrikes on the IS targets by US warplanes had allowed the peshmergas to open a route to the mountain, reports Al-Jazeera.

The IS, which has captured large areas of Syria and Iraq, see Shia Muslims and minorities such as Christians and Yazidis, a Kurdish ethno-religious community, as infidels.

The Yazidis, a minority that follow a 4,000-year-old faith, had taken cover in Sinjar Mountain for the past five days in searing heat, and with no supplies, after fleeing advancing IS fighters.

Two Kurdish officials, Ekrem Hasso and Juan Mohammad, told the AP news agency that the Yazidis fled across the border from Iraq to seek refuge with the Kurds of northeastern Syria.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also said thousands of people have fled from Iraq into Syria but had no exact number.

US warplanes have launched several waves of airstrikes against IS group fighters in northern Iraq since Friday.

Aerial drones and F-18 fighter jets have attacked fighter positions close to the Kurdish capital of Erbil.

The airstrikes seek to allow the federal and Kurdish governments to claw back areas lost in two months of conflict.

On Friday and Saturday, the US also dropped food and water for the Yazidis hiding on Sinjar Mountain. The UK is also delivering aid and has announced it is sending medics to northern Iraq.

BDST: 0935 HRS, AUG 05,2014