- Title: Iraqis flee as battle to retake Mosul intensifies
- Date: 19th November 2016
- Summary: NEAR BASHIQA, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 19, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DISPLACED PEOPLE SITTING BESIDE VEHICLE NEAR BASHIQA PEOPLE SITTING NEAR THEIR CARS, CLOTHES LINE HANGING BETWEEN CARS FAMILY SITTING ON THE GROUND, GIRL RUNNING AROUND MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN SITTING ON THE GROUND DISPLACED WOMAN, UM AYMAN, HOLDING HER CHILDREN DISPLACED CHILD HOLDING UP VICTORY SIGN, DISPLACED PEOPLE SITTING NEARBY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED WOMAN, UM AYMAN, SAYING: "We were in Salahuddin, when Daesh (Islamic State) came in, they used us as human shields and took us to Mosul. We have been trapped in Mosul for more than two years, they would not let anyone leave. When the army came in to Bawiza, we escaped, we would jump over walls and go one home to the next, even women and children, we helped them jump over the walls so we could get to the army. Once we got to the army, they helped us leave." VARIOUS OF PESHMERGA FIGHTERS AND VOLUNTEERS HANDING OUT CLOTHES TO THE DISPLACED PEOPLE YOUNG BOY CARRYING A PAIR OF JEANS PESHMERGA MEDIC AND AID WORKER TENDING TO AN INJURED BOY PESHMERGA MEDIC GETTING EQUIPMENT AID WORKER POINTING AT BOY'S FACE INJURED IN AN ISLAMIC STATE ATTACK NEAR BARTELLA, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 19, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DISPLACED PEOPLE IN THE BACK OF A TRUCK, CHILDREN DRINKING JUICE OUT OF CARTONS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED MAN FROM ZAHRAA, ABDELSATTAR, SAYING: "We left from Zahraa neighbourhood because of the shelling and the mortars falling on us. There was also exchange of fire, we would not know which direction the bullets would come from. We were scared, so we left." VARIOUS OF TRUCKS CARRYING DISPLACED PEOPLE TO REFUGEE CAMPS
- Embargoed: 4th December 2016 17:28
- Keywords: Mosul Bartella Bashiqa Islamic State Iraq
- Location: NEAR BASHIQA / NEAR BARTELLA, IRAQ
- City: NEAR BASHIQA / NEAR BARTELLA, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA0015940DHJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:More Iraqis fled from recently recaptured areas in Mosul on Saturday (November 19) as the operation to take back the city from Islamic State militants intensified.
Dozens spent a cold night on Friday (November 18) near the town of Bashiqa waiting for Kurdish peshmerga forces to transport them to refugee camps.
On Saturday aid workers distributed clothes to those still waiting outside the town, and medics tended to those who needed medical attention.
One woman who escaped from Bawiza in Mosul said she and her family had to jump over walls in order to reach safety, adding that they had been trapped in Mosul for two years.
People who fled from Zahraa neighbourhood of eastern Mosul were met by security forces who transported them to a nearby refugee camp.
Thousands of people have left Mosul since Iraq's regular troops and special forces - along with Shi'ite militias, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and other groups- launched their campaign to retake the city nearly three weeks ago.
The operation, which entered its fourth week on Monday (November 14), is the most complex in Iraq in over a decade and is complicated by the presence of the more than one million civilians still living under Islamic State control.
More than 56,000 people have been displaced because of the fighting from villages and towns around the city to government-held areas, according to U.N. estimates.
The figure does not include the tens of thousands of people rounded up in villages around Mosul and forced to accompany Islamic State fighters to cover their retreat towards the city. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None