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Iraqis continue to flee military offensive: UN refugee agency

Xinhua, July 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Thousands more Iraqis were fleeing homes as a military offensive to retake the eastern bank of the Tigris from extremist groups continued, a UN spokesman said here on Tuesday, citing the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

"The influx started in late March and new arrivals are overcrowding shelter facilities for newly displaced families in Debaga, Makhmur district, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here.

Around 17,700 people were now staying at various camp facilities in Debaga, including recently-opened UNHCR shelters at a football stadium, as well as the local school and mosque in Debaga camp, which already hosted 3,500 displaced people prior to the latest military offensive.

Since July 1, more than 5,100 people have arrived in Debaga, most from Haji Ali and Hawiga, the spokesman noted.

"It is estimated that as many as 10,000 more people could arrive in the next few days and weeks as families flee villages in the Al Qayyarah Valley in Hamdaniya district, where military operations are ongoing," he said.

The UNHCR was preparing to build another site to house the families in Debaga, but warned that even this new facility, which could accommodate around 6,000 people, will not be able to keep pace with the flow and speed of new arrivals, he added.

On June 26, Lieutenant General Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, commander of Operations Command for Fallujah Liberation, declared full liberation of the city of Fallujah from Islamic State group after about a month of battles against the extremist militants.

Iraqi troops entered Golan district in northwestern Fallujah, which was the last area to be freed from the Islamic State militants in the city, he said in a press release.

Iraqi government troops and allied militias have currently been fighting for months to reclaim key cities and towns in Anbar province from Islamic State militants, who attempted to approach Baghdad after seizing most of the province.

Iraq has witnessed intense violence since the Islamic State controlled parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014. Endit