- Title: Iraqis describe life under IS after fleeing Mosul
- Date: 17th November 2016
- Summary: NEAR BASHIQA, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 17, 2016) (REUTERS) CONVOY OF CARS AND TRUCKS SEEN NEAR BASHIQA, CARRYING PEOPLE FLEEING FROM DISTRICTS OF MOSUL CAPTURED BY ISLAMIC STATE TRACTOR CARRYING LUGGAGE AND PERSONAL BELONGINGS / SHEEP NEARBY CARS AND PEOPLE NEAR A TRENCH PEOPLE / CARS IN BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN FLEEING FROM EASTERN MOSUL ON THE BACK OF A PICKUP TRUCK CONVOY OF CARS VARIOUS OF SHEPHERD LEADING A HERD OF SHEEP PEOPLE WAITING TO BE TAKEN TO A REFUGEE CAMP BY PESHMERGA FIGHTERS DISPLACED PEOPLE SITTING NEAR A CAR (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED WOMAN FROM TIKRIT TAKEN AS ISLAMIC STATE HOSTAGE IN MOSUL, JENAN MOHAMMED YASIN, SAYING: "When Tikrit was liberated and the army came in, Islamic State came to my husband and to my son and they told them: 'You have to go to Mosul. They took us to Mosul, we were hostages, and they kept us there. It has been two years and a half, we could not even get to the edges of Mosul.' I have not seen my daughter for two and a half years, she lives in Tikrit." YASIN'S FAMILY MEMBERS VARIOUS OF CHILDREN EATING TUNA FROM A CAN DISPLACED PEOPLE GATHERED AROUND TO EAT CHILDREN EATING AND DRINKING FROM CANS MEN AND CHILDREN IN THE BACK OF A PICKUP TRUCK (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAN TAKEN AS HOSTAGE IN MOSUL, BARZAN, SAYING: "We were in Mosul, but we wanted to get back to our families. We could not leave, if we tried to leave they would hold us, they would take our cars and our papers so that no one could leave. The roads through the mountains were closed, some went from Fadiliya and Newaran, but we could not leave. Now we are out. It has been ten days since we left Mosul." WOMEN AND CHILDREN SITTING ON THE GROUND WOMEN SITTING ON THE GROUND / HERD OF SHEEP NEARBY WOMEN SITTING ON THE GROUND VARIOUS OF CARS CARRYING DISPLACED PEOPLE DRIVING THROUGH THE AREA PESHMERGA FIGHTERS ALLOWING CHILDREN TO PASS OVER A SAND BERM PESHMERGA FIGHTERS HELPING WOMEN CARRY THEIR BELONGINGS THROUGH A TRENCH
- Embargoed: 2nd December 2016 11:54
- Keywords: Iraq Bashiqa Mosul Islamic State refugee camps
- Location: NEAR BASHIQA, IRAQ
- City: NEAR BASHIQA, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA00158U291J
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Dozens of Iraqis, who fled from recently recaptured areas in Mosul searching for safety, were met by Kurdish peshmerga forces on Thursday (November 17) near the town of Bashiqa.
The town, located 15 km (10 miles) from Mosul, was recently recovered from Islamic State militants by a 2,000-strong peshmerga force.
The displaced men, women and children were waiting to be taken to refugees camps. Some of those who fled had been taken into Mosul as hostages by Islamic State militants and were trapped there for more than two years.
"They took us to Mosul, we were hostages, and they kept us there. It has been two years and a half, we could not even get to the edges of Mosul. I have not seen my daughter for two and a half years, she lives in Tikrit," said Jenan Mohammad Yasin, one of the displaced women.
Another man said Islamic State would confiscate cars and identification papers to stop people from fleeing the city.
"The roads through the mountains were closed, some went from Fadiliya and Newaran, but we could not leave. Now we are out. It has been ten days since we left Mosul," said Barzan.
Thousands of people have left Mosul since Iraqi 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 a 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.
But figures do 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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