UN says 8,000 flee west Mosul as Iraqi forces fight ISIL

Displaced Iraqis who fled their homes walk through the desert, as the battle against ISIL militants in western Mosul raged on February 28, 2017. Zohra Bensemra/Reuters

BAGHDAD // About 8,000 people have fled from the western part of Mosul since Iraqi government forces launched the push to take that part of the city from ISIL last week, the UN humanitarian aid agency said on Tuesday.

Hundreds of civilians fled through the desert on Tuesday to escape fighting in Mosul, joining thousands of others who left their homes amid dire conditions in the city’s west.

OCHA, the UN agency, said it was expanding displacement camps to cope with the increasing numbers of those fleeing west Mosul. Iraq declared eastern Mosul “fully liberated” in January, after three months of fierce fighting.

With the support of the US-led coalition, Iraqi forces began the operation to retake western Mosul on February 19. They have so far captured the city’s international airport and a sprawling military base next to it as well some neighbourhoods from the southern edge.

Security forces reached the southernmost of Mosul’s five damaged or destroyed bridges across the Tigris River on Monday, a step that could allow troops to extend a floating bridge between the city’s east and west sides.

But even if Iraqi forces link the recaptured east bank with the west, tough fighting still lies ahead, and civilians will be caught in the middle.

“So far today [Tuesday], we have around 300 displaced people – men and women and children,” Brig Gen Salman Hashem of the Counter-Terrorism Service said.

“There are more coming. They’re stopped at a checkpoint when they arrive and separated. The men are searched and then checked against a database,” he said.

The people fleeing western Mosul are “often exhausted and dehydrated”, OCHA said, adding that an estimated 250,000 people could flee the fighting in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Iraqi special forces moved into western Mosul’s Shuhada neighbourhood amid fierce clashes with ISIL militants as federal police units continued clearing up Gawsaq, a neighbourhood retaken on Monday from the extremist group, according to special forces and police officers.

A mortar round landed in one of the streets, killing three civilians and wounding a fourth, as security forces scrambled to evacuate civilians to safe areas.

* Associated Press and Agence France-Presse