BAGHDAD
(Reuters) - Up to 78,000 people could be trapped in Islamic State-held Hawija
in northern Iraq, the United Nations said on Tuesday, as security forces push
to
recapture the town.
Iraq started
an offensive on Sept. 21 to seize Hawija, which fell to the hands of militants
after the Iraqi army collapsed in 2014 in the face of the Islamic State
offensive and remains the last militant-held town in the country’s north.
U.N.
humanitarian spokesman Jens Laerke said the number of people who have fled the
fighting has increased from 7,000 people during the first week of the operation
to some 12,500 people now. But up to 78,000 remain trapped, he said.
Iraqi
security officials say the militants prevent some residents from leaving, while
others are afraid of escaping toward government forces because of the
explosives that might have been laid by Islamic State around the town.
“We remain
concerned for the lives and well-being of these vulnerable civilians and remind
those doing the fighting that civilians must be protected at all times and
allowed to safely leave Hawija,” Laerke said.
Laerke said
more people were expected to flee the fighting in areas around Hawija in the
next 24 to 48 hours as security forces push into more densely populated areas.
Hawija,
north of Baghdad, and a stretch of land along the Syrian border, west of the
Iraqi capital, are the last stretches of territory in Iraq still in the hands
of Islamic State.
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