400 000 trapped in dire conditions in Mosul

ABOUT 600 000 people remain in the areas of west Mosul held by the Islamic State group, including 400 000 who are trapped in the Old City under siege-like conditions, the UN said yesterday.

“They are desperate for food. They are panicked,” Bruno Geddo, who represents the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Iraq, said in Geneva by phone from a transit centre for displaced people near Mosul.

He said people arriving at the Hammam al-Alil transit centre about 20km south of Iraq’s second-largest city described the desperate situation they had left.

“There is a shortage of fuel, of food, of electricity. People have resorted to burning furniture, old clothes, anything they can use to keep warm at night, because it is still raining heavily and the temperatures at night in particular drop significantly.”

He said people were surviving primarily on a little bread and water, and many were eating just once a day.

His comments came as Iraqi forces, which launched a massive operation to retake Mosul in October, gain ground from IS fighters in the west of the city after taking back the east.

IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained much of the territory they lost.

The Iraqis launched a major operation to recapture west Mosul on February 19.

Geddo said around 600 000 people remained in the 60% of west Mosul still under IS control, but that number was constantly changing as people fled.

About 153 000 people had fled western Mosul since February 19, he said. Between 8 000 and 12 000 people were arriving at the transit centre daily, many malnourished.

Those in the Old City had to choose between staying and facing hunger and possible death, or risking shelling and sniper fire to leave.

Since October, about 340 000 people have fled all parts of Mosul, but 70 000 have returned to the eastern part of the city, leaving about 270 000 displaced, according to UNHCR figures. – AFP