10,000 residents flee Mosul to Qaim, western Anbar: Source
Internally displaced persons flee to Debaga camp in Erbil Governorate, northern Iraq, as Mosul assault is underway. Photo: UNHCR/Ivor Prickett
Speaking to Alsumaria News, the source said “2000 families from Mosul fled to Qaim city, located 360KM west of Anbar.”
The number of displaced families, according to the source, who preferred anonymity, “reaches around 10,000 families, most of whom are women and children, from Mosul.”
“The arrival of these families caused overpopulation,” the source added. They are living at houses of the displaced residents of Qaim.”
Qaim was captured by the Islamic State in 2014. Thousands of civilians were besieged by the militants inside the city in order to be used as human shields.
More than 4 million were internally displaced since IS emerged in 2014. According to Iraqi government, more than 200.000 residents fled western Mosul since operations launched in February to retake that area, driving the total of those displaced since October to more than 400.000.
The United Nations previously warned that battles in Mosul could displace at least 400,000 out of 750,000 living in western Mosul, and said in 2016 that the offensive to retake the city could force at least 1.5 million people to flee homes in the city.