Displacement of civilians in Sinjar' temporary': Iraqi ministry

Abbas estimated the number of displaced to be between 200 and 250 families.

Kurdistan 24 2022/05/03 15:40

Hundreds of families were displaced from Sinjar by clashes between Iraqi Army and a PKK-affiliated militia on Monday, May 2, 2022 (Photo: Maher Shingali/Kurdistan 24)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - The recent displacement of civilians caused by renewed clashes between the Iraqi Army and Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)-affiliated fighters in the town of Sinjar will be "temporary", Iraq's migration ministry said on Tuesday.

More than 3,500 people have been displaced since clashes broke out in the Yezidi-majority town in western Nineveh province on Sunday night.

"This displacement is temporary because the situation is good and has returned to normal again," Ali Abbas, an official at the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displaced, told the Iraqi News Agency on Tuesday.

The displaced civilians fled to the Kurdistan Region's Duhok province, where most of the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in the Kurdistan Region are located.

Abbas estimated the number of displaced to be between 200 and 250 families.

However, an official from the Kurdish region's Joint Crisis Coordination Center told Kurdistan 24 on Monday that these latest clashes displaced at least 650 families.

The United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) expressed its concerns on Monday regarding the well-being of civilians after the escalation.

"After years of displacement, recent returnees are once again forced to flee their homes due to current armed clashes in Sinjar," Yezidi Nobel laureate Nadia Murad tweeted.