Iraq: Thousands displaced as battle for Mosul rages on

More than 10,000 Iraqis have fled their homes since the start of an offensive to retake Mosul from ISIL this month, according to the UN.

That figure is just a fraction of the displacement that aid groups expect to see when Iraqi forces reach the city limits and some of the million-plus people thought to be inside attempt to flee.

"As the fighting gets closer to more populated areas, we're starting to see more and more families flee the fighting," Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Erbil in northern Iraq, said.

"At least 1,000 people were evacuated by [Iraqi] counterterrorism forces from their villages," Dekker added. "These are terrifying times for those people - their houses are shaking, and they are being caught in the crossfire."

And while those evacuated by the elite Iraqi unit were guided to nearby camps, there "are no humanitarian corridors" to manage the thousands more being displaced, Dekker said.

"Many other people are making this terrifying journey on foot."
  [aljazeera.com]
27/10/16
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