More than 1 million Iraqis still displaced: Official

BAGHDAD

At least 1.2 million Iraqis are displaced in cities and camps in the northern and western parts of the country, the Iraqi government said Monday.

While some 500,000 displaced people are in displacement camps throughout the country, 700,000 people are still displaced in cities, Migration and Displacement Ministry Undersecretary Jassem al-Attiya told Anadolu Agency.

Al-Attiya said his agency, in coordination with the UN, launched Monday "a plan for the return of the displaced to their homes within a deadline of one year."

The plan wants to find solutions to problems that hinder the displaced to return their homes, according to al-Attya.

More than 5 million Iraqis were forced to flee districts in the provinces of Nineveh, Kirkuk, Saladin, Anbar, Diyala, as well as parts of Babil and the outskirts of Baghdad after self-proclaimed Daesh terrorists reportedly overran much of northern and western Iraq in 2014.

After officials in Baghdad declared the terror group’s military presence in Iraq had been all but dismantled following operations backed by the U.S.-led coalition in December 2017, many returned home but some are still unable to return to their neighborhoods because of the destruction of their houses during the war against Daesh, lack of infrastructure and basic services and the instability of the security situation.