Off the wire
• Seven farmers shot dead in western Mexico  • 1st LD: Greek parliament ratifies austerity bill ahead of Eurogroup meeting  • Libya asks Italy to arm anti-migrant smuggling patrol boats  • Urgent: Greek parliament ratifies multi-bill ahead of Eurogroup meeting  • Italy expecting offers for Alitalia  • Refugee children traveling alone increased five-fold since 2010: UN  • South Africa's ruling ANC decries surge of killing of women, children  • U.S. Treasury Secretary hopes tax reform be completed this year  • Spotlight: Turkey and Germany again at odds over Incirlik airbase  • Zimbabwe's Mugabe commissions upgrade project of main truck road  
You are here: 　 Home

UN warns 200,000 people fleeing western Mosul in Iraq

Xinhua, May 19, 2017 Adjust font size:

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Thursday that there has been a sharp increase in the number of people fleeing western Mosul in northern Iraq as a result of intensified fighting.

"As military operations intensify and move closer to Mosul's old city area, we expect that up to 200,000 more people will flee," said Lise Grande, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq.

UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing here that the number of people fleeing homes in western Mosul are overwhelming, and large number of families are on the move, leaving everything behind.

On Thursday, Iraqi government forces freed another neighborhood in the city after heavy clashes with the Islamic State (IS) militants.

The troops are now pushing to seize the remaining neighborhoods in north and northwest of the city to tighten the noose around the IS redoubt where roughly 400,000 residents are believed to be trapped under IS rule.

Mosul, 400 km north of Iraq's capital Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014. Endit