- Title: More civilians flee from war zones around Mosul
- Date: 17th November 2016
- Summary: NEAR BASHIQA, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 17, 2016) (REUTERS) DISPLACED PEOPLE WHO FLED MOSUL WAITING NEAR BASHIQA DISPLACED PEOPLE STANDING AROUND A FIRE VARIOUS OF CHILDREN THROWING CARDBOARD INTO THE FIRE VARIOUS OF CHILDREN AND PEOPLE STANDING AROUND FIRE VARIOUS OF WOMEN SITTING ON THE GROUND VARIOUS OF CONVOY CARRYING DISPLACED PEOPLE DISPLACED MAN FROM MOSUL, DWEIHY, IN HIS CAR (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED MAN FROM MOSUL, DWEIHY, SAYING: "We have been waiting since 7 am, the situation is tragic, all day, children, women, families, old people. We are still waiting, nothing has happened." VARIOUS OF CHILDREN IN THE BACK OF A PICKUP TRUCK CHILD CRYING IN THE BACK OF A TRUCK MORE OF CHILDREN IN THE TRUCK DISPLACED MAN FROM BAWIZA, HASHEM, WARMING HIS HANDS AT THE FIRE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED MAN FROM BAWIZA, HASHEM, SAYING: "We left at 9 am and got here, we have been waiting all day. I am sick, I cannot stay out here. We do not know what will happen to us, will we stay here? Go somewhere else? We do not know." VARIOUS OF WOMEN SITTING ON THE GROUND WOMAN AND CHILD SITTING ON THE GROUND CHILDREN SITTING VARIOUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN NEAR A FIRE CHILDREN PLAYING FOOTBALL DISPLACED PEOPLE STANDING BY FIRES
- Embargoed: 2nd December 2016 16:33
- Keywords: Bashiqa Iraq refugees Mosul
- Location: NEAR BASHIQA, IRAQ
- City: NEAR BASHIQA, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA00158U3T53
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Dozens of Iraqis who fled from recently recaptured areas in Mosul waited near the town of Bashiqa on Thursday (November 17) for Kurdish peshmerga forces to transport them to refugee camps.
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 said they had been waiting for hours to be let into the city.
One man, Dweihy said he had been waiting since 7 am.
"The situation is tragic, all day, children, women, families, old people. We are still waiting, nothing has happened," said Dweihy.
Another man who fled from Bawiza, Hashem, said he had been waiting all day.
"I am sick, I cannot stay out here. We do not know what will happen to us, will we stay here? Go somewhere else? We do not know," he said.
Thousands of people have left Mosul since Iraqi 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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