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Over 110,000 civilians displaced from Iraq's Mosul as fighting rages: IOM

Xinhua, December 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

According to figures released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Friday, 110,196 men, women and children have fled Mosul and its adjacent districts since military operations to recapture one of the Islamic State (IS)'s last strongholds began in October.

Up from 99,384 a week ago, IOM data revealed that 18,366 families have been forced to flee their homes as a result of more than two months of fierce fighting in the northern Iraqi city.

A total of 77 percent of the internally displaced have ended up in formal camps, with the rest finding shelter in private settings, emergency sites and critical shelter arrangements.

According to IOM, Al-Hamdaniya district in Ninewa governorate is hosting most of the internally displaced people (65 percent), followed by Mosul (32 percent) and Hatra (1.3 percent).

Supported by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Iraqi troops kicked off operations on Oct. 17 to recapture the city which fell into the IS hands in June 2014, giving IS militants control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.

International aircraft as well as Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition artillery units are supporting ground operations there.

According to reports, more than 5,000 IS militants were initially holed up in Mosul.

The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR had warned before operations started that as many as 1.2 million people could be forced to flee their homes. Endit