- Title: More Iraqis flee from areas near Mosul
- Date: 18th November 2016
- Summary: NEAR BASHIQA, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 18, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AND CARS WAITING BEYOND A TRENCH SURROUNDING BASHIQA VARIOUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN SITTING ON THE GROUND WOMAN AND HER DAUGHTER SITTING ON THE GROUND MAN LYING ON THE GROUND/ CHILDREN VARIOUS OF CHILDREN SITTING NEAR AN OVERTURNED CART MAN SHIELDING HIS EYES FROM THE SUN (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED MAN FROM BAWIZA, JASEM YASIN, SAYING: "We have been here since yesterday, there are no blankets, the children have not been able to sleep because it is so cold, everyone is getting sick. We have been here at the trench for two days, they will not let us through. They say they are waiting for trucks." VARIOUS OF A WOMAN HOLDING HER SLEEPING CHILD DISPLACED PEOPLE SITTING BY CARS VARIOUS OF DISPLACED WOMEN AND CHILDREN SITTING NEAR CARS CHILD SLEEPING IN MOTHER'S ARMS VARIOUS OF A MAN PRAYING DISPLACED MAN FROM MOSUL, BARZAN ISSA, SITTING WITH HIS FAMILY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED MAN FROM MOSUL, BARZAN ISSA, SAYING: "It was very cold last night, the children were very cold, we stayed up all night. There is no water, they handed out two bottles (of water) but we cannot even wash our face. All we want is to cross the trench so we can go to the camps, or anywhere they want to take us." VARIOUS OF WOMEN COOKING ON A FIRE WOMEN BAKING BREAD OVER A FIRE CHILDREN SITTING ON THE GROUND VARIOUS OF DISPLACED PEOPLE AND CARS WAITING NEAR BASHIQA
- Embargoed: 3rd December 2016 12:29
- Keywords: refugees Iraq Bashiqa Islamic State internally displaced persons
- Location: NEAR BASHIQA, IRAQ
- City: NEAR BASHIQA, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA00158Z25ON
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Dozens of Iraqis who fled from recently recaptured areas in Mosul wait for Kurdish peshmerga forces to transport them to refugee camps on Friday (November 18) after spending a cold night near the town of Bashiqa.
The town, located 15 km (10 miles) from Mosul, was recently captured from Islamic State militants by a 2,000-strong peshmerga force.
The displaced men, women and children who fled the ongoing clashes in and around Mosul said they spent a difficult night in the desert.
A displaced man from Bawiza, Jasem Yasin said that the children were unable to sleep as they had no blankets and it was cold.
"We have been here at the trench for two days, they will not let us through. They say they are waiting for trucks," he said.
Another man, Barzan Issa said all he wants is to be taken to one of the refugee camps.
"It was very cold last night, the children were very cold, we stayed up all night. There is no water, they handed out two bottles (of water) but we can not even wash our face," he said.
Thousands of people have left Mosul since Iraq regular troops and special forces - along with Shi'ite militias, Kurdish Peshmerga 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
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