Iraq: 500 refugee families return to Fallujah

By Suleiman al-Qubaisi

ANBAR, Iraq

Iraqi refugees have started to return to the western city of Fallujah, which was recaptured from the Daesh group in May.

“Around 500 refugee families were moved to the center of Fallujah,” Anbar provicial chief Sabah Kahrout told Anadolu Agency on Saturday.

He said the returning families will be settled in the city’s eastern and central neighborhoods after clearing mines from these areas.

Kahrout said the returning families were the first batch of Iraqi refugees, who would go back to their areas.

“More families will return to their areas in the near future,” he said.

Iraq has suffered a devastating security vacuum since mid-2014, when Daesh captured Mosul -- the country’s second largest city -- and overran large swathes of territory in the northern and western parts of the country.

According to the UN, more than 3.4 million people -- more than half of them children -- are now internally displaced in Iraq.