Ministry: 9000 families returned to Nineveh

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The number of refugees returning to their residences in Nineveh has reached 9000 over the past two weeks, according to the Ministry of Migration and Displacement.

Four thousand families returned to homes abandoned due to battles between Islamic State militants and Iraqi troops seeking to recapture the city, raising the total to 9000, Minister Jassem al-Jaff said in a press statement.

On his part, Kurdish interior minister Karim Shinkali stated that his government encourages refugees to return to stabilized areas.” We are working to assess the security status for families at al-Khazir camp after their regions had been liberated so as to return them at the nearest opportunity,” he stated.

Hassan Sabaawi, a member of Nineveh province council, had previously been quoted as saying that nine liberated areas in the province’s city of Mosul are still abandoned, with the majority of its migrating residents taking shelter at Debka camp. He urged those families to return so as to give space for other refugees.

A similar call was made by Nineveh governor Nawfal Hammadi, who had called upon refugees in al-Khazir and Hassan Sham camps to return to their liberated areas.

The International Organization of Migration said earlier this week that 73000 people left Mosul since the launch of operations to retake the city from ISIS in October.

The United Nations, before the start of the security campaign, had predicted one million people to leave homes.