50% of western Mosul refugees repatriated: province council
Archival photo.
Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Fifty percent of civilians displaced by the war against Islamic State militants in Nineveh in Mosul have been repatriated to regions in the western side of the city, said local officials.
The Nineveh Province Council said the next days will see more displaced persons returning to the city after cleaning and the restoration of services.
Deputy council chairman, Nour-Eddin Qablan, said 50% of displaced civilians had returned to their home regions after security vetting, predicting the percentage to reach 70 percent by the end of August.
He said municipal authorities will do extra efforts to revive medical facilities and reopen deactivated bridges in Mosul in spite of insufficient funds for that purpose.
Iraq’s U.S.-backed offensives against Islamic State militants since October have displaced at least one million people. Iraqi authorities plan to repatriate civilians to their home regions by the end of this year.
The government said it totally recaptured the city early July.
Civilians had reportedly been shot by IS snipers while fleeing areas under fighters’ control, and had also endured medicine and food shortages at refugee camps.
The war had dealt a severe damage to the city’s infrastructure, with United Nations officials saying the rehabilitation of the city needs more than one billion dollars.