- Title: Iraqi families fleeing Mosul waiting another night for support
- Date: 18th November 2016
- Summary: NEAR BASHIQA, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 18, 2016) (REUTERS) DISPLACED CHILD PUTTING ON TROUSERS AS HE WAITS WITH HIS FAMILY NEAR BASHIQA / SUN SETTING IN BACKGROUND MAN COVERED IN A BLANKET AND CHILD SITTING ON THE GROUND VARIOUS OF DISPLACED WOMEN SITTING NEAR PILES OF CLOTHES AND ITEMS SHEPHERD AND SHEEP BESIDE VEHICLE VARIOUS OF A MEMBER OF AN AID GROUP DISTRIBUTING MEDICINE TO THE DISPLACED PEOPLE WOMAN SHAKING HER HEAD AND WALKING AWAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEMBER OF THE FREE BURMA AND FREE KURD RANGERS, DAVID YUBANK, SAYING: "One problem staying here another night is it has gotten very cold last night. There are little babies crying, they are not prepared to stay here at night, so it is uncomfortable, unhealthy, also ISIS (Islamic State) is just over there. Last night you could hear the fighting between ISIS and the Iraqi army right there, there is no wall here to protect these people. Any time ISIS could come on purpose to kill them or just accidentally be rolling through here in a fight and kill them. So this is not a safe and good place for these people to be." VARIOUS OF MEMBERS OF THE FREE KURD RANGERS AID AGENCY GIVING OUT MEDICINE DISPLACED MAN FROM MOSUL, SADDAM ABED, CARRYING HIS CHILD ABED'S CHILD CRYING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DISPLACED MAN FROM MOSUL, SADDAM ABED, SAYING: "We got here yesterday morning, we thought we would cross. We kept waiting, they said at 4pm, then 6pm, then they said there are no trucks, no roads, so we stayed here. We slept out here last night, with our children, look at all the dust, we had no blankets or mattresses, nothing." VARIOUS OF A MAN AND WOMAN COOKING RICE VARIOUS OF WOMAN AND CHILDREN SITTING BESIDE A FIRE BOILING WATER IN A KETTLE VARIOUS OF A CHILD SITTING NEAR A FIRE WIPING HER FACE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE COLLECTING WOOD VARIOUS OF A MAN AND WOMAN BUILDING MAKESHIFT SHELTER CHILD HOLDING UP VICTORY SIGN AND WAVING AT THE CAMERA
- Embargoed: 3rd December 2016 17:27
- Keywords: Bashiqa displaced people Mosul Islamic State Iraq
- Location: NEAR BASHIQA, IRAQ
- City: NEAR BASHIQA, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Military Conflicts
- Reuters ID: LVA00158Z3OZR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Iraqi families who fled from recently recaptured areas in Mosul prepare to spend another cold night near the town of Bashiqa on Friday (November 18), as they waited for Kurdish peshmerga forces to transport them to refugee camps.
The displaced men, women and children said they had been waiting for hours to be let into the town, which was recently captured from Islamic State militants by a 2,000-strong peshmerga force.
An aid group called Free Kurd Rangers came to the location near Bashiqa to distribute medicine and other items.
Thousands of people have left Mosul since Iraq 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
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