Number of people displaced by fighting in Mosul continues to rise, UN says

The United Nations and humanitarian agencies said that the number of people displaced by the ongoing fighting in western Mosul in north Iraq has continued to surge, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said here on Wednesday.

Since Feb. 25, people have fled western Mosul on an average of about 4,000 people per day, Dujarric said at a daily news briefing.

"Humanitarian assistance to displaced families is ongoing, at security screening sites and in displacement camps," the spokesman said.

"Humanitarian partners were also able to enter parts of western Mosul for the first time yesterday to establish humanitarian access in areas recently retaken from Da'esh," also known as the Islmaic State (IS), he said.

The troops' advance toward western Mosul came after the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on Feb. 19 the start of an offensive to drive the extremist militants out of the western side of Mosul, locally known as the right bank of Tigris River which bisects the city.

In late January, al-Abadi declared the liberation of the eastern side of Mosul, or the left bank of Tigris, after more than 100 days of fighting against the IS militants.

However, the western side of Mosul, with its narrow streets and a heavy population of between 750,000 and 800,000, appears to be a bigger challenge to the Iraqi forces, according to the United Nations estimates.

Mosul, 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions.

(APD)