4000 refugees left Mosul in 24 hours: aid group

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Four-thousand Iraqi refugees have migrated from Mosul as Iraqi groups become close to clearing half of the city from Islamic State militants, an aid group said.

Eyad Rafed, a member of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society, said those had fled areas at the northeast and southeast to locations held by Iraqi government forces, and were relocated to refugee camps in the east and south of the city after coordinating with relief teams.

“The humanitarian situation in refugee camps is getting more difficult, especially with increases in refugees coming from areas that are witnessing military operations in the eastern side of Mosul,” he said in press statements.

Abu Bakr Kanaan, who heads a committee handling refugees returning to Mosul, was quoted by Anadolu Agency as saying that more than 20.000 families have so far been returned to liberated areas in Mosul.

Battles launched in October 2016 to retake Mosul from Islamic State militants who took over the city in 2014, and the Iraqi migration ministry said on Friday that the battled had forced 178.000 people to flee homes there since then.

Dozens of civilians have been reported dead as IS militants targeted them upon trying to escape group-held areas in Mosul.

The United Nations had predicted at least one million people to be displaced as a result of battles between the U.S.-backed government forces and militants, warning of a humanitarian crisis amid a lack of heating appliances at the camps that can help refugees cope with freezing temeratures.