- Title: Thousands more Iraqis flee Mosul as military advances
- Date: 6th January 2017
- Summary: NEAR BARTELLA, IRAQ (JANUARY 5, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WHO RECENTLY FLED MOSUL GATHERED AT SECURITY CHECKPOINT IRAQIS WALKING OVER A SAND BERM TOWARDS CHECKPOINT MEN CARRYING ELDERLY WOMAN ON A WHEELCHAIR OVER THE SAND BERM VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WAITING AT CHECKPOINT IRAQI SECURITY OFFICIALS SPEAKING TO EACH OTHER (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQI FORCES COMMANDER, BRIGADIER AMER ALI JIBOURI, SAYING: "The number of people fleeing (Mosul) is constantly increasing. Two, three days ago the number of displaced people reached 7,000. Today around 2,000 people have fled various liberated areas of Mosul, including Somar, Mithaq, Wahda and Salam neighbourhoods." VARIOUS OF MEN DURING SECURITY CHECKS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LINED UP FOR A HOT MEAL VARIOUS OF AID WORKER PLACING RICE ON PEOPLES' PLATES PEOPLE RECEIVING FOOD RECENTLY DISPLACED WOMEN AND CHILDREN SITTING ON GROUND FAMILY SITTING AROUND PLATES OF BEANS PLATES OF FOOD WOMAN FEEDING HER CHILD (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) WOMAN WHO FLED FROM MOSUL, UM MAHMOUD, SAYING: "Hundreds of families left. We left under the cover of darkness, we started our journey at 6:30 in the evening. Yesterday, we walked from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., guided only by moonlight. All to escape Daesh (Islamic State)." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING TOWARDS BUSES THAT WILL TRANSPORT THEM TO CAMPS VARIOUS OF PEOPLE BOARDING BUSES BUSES AND CARS IN THE AREA
- Embargoed: 21st January 2017 09:54
- Keywords: Iraq Mosul displaced offensive residents Bartella
- Location: NEAR BARTELLA, IRAQ
- City: NEAR BARTELLA, IRAQ
- Country: Iran
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA0015XXY0JR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Thousands of residents fled from eastern Mosul neighbourhoods on Thursday (January 5), as the Iraqi army carried on with the second phase of the offensive against Islamic State militants.
The men, women and children fleeing the neighbourhoods of Somar, Wahda and Mithaq, boarded near Bartella town buses which would take them to the nearby camps.
Brigadier Amer Jibouri, a member of the Iraqi forces, said the numbers of people leaving their homes for safety steadily increase.
Aid workers distributed hot meals to the families, who fled Mosul on foot overnight.
Among them was Um Mahmoud, who said she her family walked four hours to escape the militants in the cover of darkness.
More than 125,000 people have been displaced out of a population of roughly 1.5 million.
The numbers have increased by nearly 50 percent to 2,300 daily from 1,600 over the past few days, the U.N. refugee agency said.
The humanitarian situation in Mosul was "dire", with food stockpiles dwindling and the price of staples spiraling, boreholes drying up or turning brackish from over-use and camps and emergency sites to the south and east reaching maximum capacity, it said.
Most of the fleeing civilians are from the eastern districts but people from the besieged west, still under the militants' control, are increasingly attempting to escape, scaling bridges bombed by the coalition and crossing the Tigris by boat. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
