PMUs evacuate 3,500 families from western Hatra regions
Displaced Iraqi men wait in a truck to be transported to a camp as the battle between the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service and Islamic State militants continues nearby, in western Mosul, Iraq, April 23, 2017. REUTERS/Marko Djurica
“The forces evacuated more than 3,500 persons along with 550 vehicles and more than 20,000 head of cattle from regions in the west of Hatra,” the media service of the Public Mobilization Units said.
“All necessary requirements were offered to the families displaced from battlefields in southwest of Mosul.
On Thursday, the PMUs liberated Hatra region after an offensive was launched to Tuesday to free it from IS fighters and cut off the IS routes between Hawija, Mosul and eastern Syria.
600,000 civilians have been displaced since military operations were launched in Nineveh, the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement said in statements in Monday. 425,000 of whom were displaced since operations began in western Mosul.
Over four million persons were displaced inside the country since emergence of IS in 2014.
Iraqi troops, backed by U.S.-led coalition and paramilitary troops, retook eastern Mosul from Islamic State in January, after three months of battles. A new offensive was launched in February to retake the western side.