UN: 55% of IDPs from Mosul are children

Children make up 55 per cent of Mosul’s displaced, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.

“More than 25,000 civilians have been displaced from western Mosul in the past five days,” it said in a report released yesterday.

Read: Mosul’s displaced are malnourished and weak

“The emergency site set up by the organisation at the Qayyarah airbase includes 28,387 children out of 49,564 displaced, while the second site in the Haj Ali area, south of Mosul, has 20,390 children out of 34,561 displaced,” it added.

As fighting intensified, many children have witnessed the death of their parents or family members who were killed by armed groups while escaping or by homemade improvised explosive devices.

“More than 300 civilians have managed to escape from the Dandan district on the western side of Mosul after dozens of gunmen stormed parts of the liberated neighbourhood,” Iraqi army commander, Uday Mohammed Al-Naqib, said.

“Dozens fled their homes amid fierce fighting between the security forces and the Daesh militants who burned a number of civilian homes and killed others,” he added.