8,000 flee Mosul during latest push

BAGHDAD — Since Iraqi government forces launched the push last week to take the western half of Mosul from the Islamic State extremist group, about 8,000 people have fled from that part of the city and surrounding villages, the United Nations’ humanitarian aid agency said Tuesday.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said it is expanding displacement camps to cope with the increasing numbers of those fleeing Mosul.

With the support of the U. S.- led coalition, Iraqi forces began on Feb. 19 the operation to retake western Mosul and have so far captured the city’s international airport and a sprawling military base next to it as well some neighborhoods from the southern edge. Iraq declared eastern Mosul “fully liberated” in January, after three months of fierce fighting.

The people fleeing western Mosul are “often exhausted and dehydrated,” the aid agency’s statement said, adding that an estimated 250,000 people could flee the fighting in the coming days.