9,000 IDPs fled to Kurdistan since beginning of Mosul operation: KRG
Following the start of the offensive to retake Mosul from the Islamic State (IS), over 9,000 people have been displaced to the Kurdistan Region, said a Kurdish official on Tuesday.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Following the start of the offensive to retake Mosul from the Islamic State (IS), over 9,000 people have been displaced to the Kurdistan Region, said a Kurdish official on Tuesday.
Iraqi and Kurdish forces began the military operation of retaking Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq, from the extremist group from the east of the city.
“Since the first day of the Mosul operation on Oct. 17 until now, 9,000 people from the north, east, and south of the city were displaced to the Kurdistan Region,” said the General Director of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCC) Hoshang Mohammed.
He revealed 80 percent of the displaced people moved to Erbil Province and settled in Dibaga and Hassan Sham camps. However, the rest resided in Zalikan camp in Duhok Province.
The Kurdistan Region is home to over 1.8 million refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who fled from different parts of Iraq following the emergence of IS in the country in 2014.
Mohammed mentioned that after the IDPs arrive at the Peshmerga front lines, buses provided by the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displacement transfer them to camps.
Moreover, he also criticized the international community for their insufficient support to the KRG in helping deal with IDPs.
The JCC General Director said on Monday evening, over 2,000 IDPs arrived at the Nawaran front line, located in the north of Mosul.
“[The KRG] can accommodate 33,000 families or 215,000 IDPs as five camps have been planned to open in Erbil, five in Duhok, and one in Sulaimani Province,” Mohammed continued.
“But we worry, and we expect half-a-million IDPs to move to the Kurdistan Region as the operation advances to the center of Mosul,” the JCC Director added.
IS occupied Mosul and large swaths of territory in Iraq in June 2014, including Nineveh, Diyala, Salahaddin, and Anbar Provinces.
Since the Iraqi and Kurdish forces launched a joint military operation to free Mosul and end IS’ occupation in the country, the group continued to lose its grip on remaining terrain.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany