12 killed, 36 injured by IS-launched mortar barrage in Iraq

At least 12 displaced people were killed and 36 others wounded on Thursday in a mortar barrage by the Islamic State (IS) militants on a displacement camp in Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, a provincial security source told Xinhua.

The incident occurred in the morning when IS militants fired many mortar rounds on a displacement camp at an abandoned cement factory in north of the town of Baiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The camp was established to receive hundreds of displaced families who left their homes in the besieged town of Shirqat, some 280 km north of Baghdad, which has been under the IS control since June 2014, the source said.

Many of the killed and wounded were women and children, the source added.

Families in Shirqat and other militant-seized cities and towns were prevented from leaving their homes by IS militants who used them as human shields during armed military attacks.

However, the siege upon Shirqat imposed by security forces has forced most extremist militants to flee the town towards the IS major stronghold in Mosul, 400 km north of Baghdad.

The escape of IS militants weakened their grip on the town, enabling civilians to leave their homes, following long-term repeated power blackouts, acute food shortages, scarce drinking water and medicine.

Meanwhile, a recent report by Iraq's Ministry of Migration and the Displaced said that up to 13,691 families fled Shirqat and surrounding villages in the past few weeks.

The mass migration comes as security forces attempt to free the towns of Shirqat, Qayyara and Hawijah during their major offensive targeting liberating Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, from the extremist militants.

Iraq has witnessed increased violence since the IS took over parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014. Endit