5,545 families return back home at Anbar province
A displaced Iraqi woman who just fled her home talks on the phone as Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State militants, in western Mosul, Iraq February 27, 2017. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Over 5,000 displaced families returned back home at Anbar province, western Iraq, as some regions were freed from Islamic State, Al Taghier website reported.
Head of the Ministry of Displacement and Migration branch in Anbar Mohamed Rashid said 2,071 families returned back to Fallujah, while 1,432 families went back to Haditha city, 931 families returned to Ramadi city and 579 families returned back to al-Khalidiya city.
Meanwhile, 532 families returned back to Hīt district, while 166 families returned back in Saqlawiyah city
Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights previously estimated number of refugees at more than 400,000 due to battles between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State militants in Mosul since security operations launched in October.
More than four million persons were displaced inside the country since the emergence of IS in 2014, according to Iraqi government estimates.
According to United Nations, the total of civilians displaced since October stood at more than 320,000. It had predicted a total of 1.5 million people to be displaced upon the launch of the operations.