Iraq sends planes to Belarus to collect hundreds of migrants

Total of 617 people, mostly Kurds, are set to be repatriated

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  Migrants inside the transport and logistics centre on the Belarusian-Polish border, in the Grodno region. Reuters

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  A migrant woman carries her child to a Belarusian doctor near the Kuznitsa checkpoint. AP

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  Belarusian doctors help people prepare to enter showering tents close to the logistics centre. EPA

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  An estimated 15,000 migrants are massed on either side of the border in freezing, inhospitable conditions, with about 12,000 Polish soldiers, border guards and police in place. EPA

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  Boys leave the kitchen tent near the Bruzgi checkpoint. The EU believes Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has encouraged migrants to travel to the border in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Belarus over human rights abuses. EPA

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  Migrants set up beds in the transport and logistics centre. Reuters

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  A man washes his faces at the centre. EPA

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  Although fewer numbers have been gathering at the border in the past few days, Poland believes the reduction is down to a change of tactics by Belarus, which it says is now moving migrants to the border area in smaller groups. Reuters

Two Iraqi planes took off on Thursday night for Belarus to repatriate more than 600 Iraqis stuck on the former Soviet state's border with Poland, the Transport Ministry said.

Hundreds of Iraqis, mostly Kurds, returned home last week on a voluntary repatriation flight from Belarus, where thousands of migrants have camped on the border with Poland for weeks hoping to enter the EU.

Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Al Sahaf said 617 people would be repatriated, the official Iraqi news agency reported.

The first plane was due to land in Erbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq, after midnight, said Lawk Ghafuri, regional spokesman.

On November 18, 431 Iraqis were flown back home from Belarus, many returning with mixed feelings.

Most said they had spent their savings, sold valuables and even took loans to escape economic hardship in Iraq and start a new life in the EU, but they did not make it across the border.

The West accuses Belarus of bringing in migrants, mostly from the Middle East, under the false pretence that they will be able to cross into EU members Poland and Lithuania.

Belarus has denied the claim and criticised the EU for not taking in the migrants.

Aid groups say at least 11 migrants have died on both sides of the border since the crisis began in the summer, and have criticised the Polish government over its policy of pushing migrants back.