Over 3,800 people displaced amid Mosul operation

By Haydar Hadi

BAGHDAD

More than 3,800 people have been displaced in areas around Mosul since a major offensive was launched last week to oust Daesh from the northern Iraqi city, according to the ministry of migration and displacement Monday.

Some 904 people were transferred Sunday from Bashiqa and Gayara fronts to a refugee camp in the Sheikhan district south of Mosul, the ministry said in a statement.

Qassim Atiyye, the spokesman for the ministry told Anadolu Agency that the camps for the displaced could accommodate up to 300,000.

Last week, the Iraqi army, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, launched a much-anticipated operation to retake Mosul, the last Daesh stronghold in northern Iraq.

Daesh captured Iraq’s second largest city in mid-2014 before overrunning large swathes of territory in the country’s northern and western regions.

In recent weeks, the army and its allies have staged a gradual advance on the city, which officials in Baghdad have vowed to recapture by year’s end.