13,000 FAMILIES FLEE FALLUJAH: IRAQI RED CRESCENT

BAGHDAD, Jan 08, 2014 (AFP) - More than 13,000 families have fled Fallujah in the past few days amid clashes and shelling after the city fell to Al-Qaeda-linked militants, the Iraqi Red Crescent said on Wednesday.

“Most of them are now living in schools, public buildings or with relatives,” Red Crescent official Mohammed al-Khuzaie said in a statement. Khuzaie said the organisation had provided humanitarian assistance to more than 8,000 families in the past three days across predominantly Sunni Arab Anbar province.