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Every day, thousands of people are fleeing Mosul, many running as the walls of their homes collapse.Mortar fire, airstrikes and helicopter attacks rain down in crowded city neighborhoods while Islamic State militants fire at fleeing families.
“It was a storm of mortar and gunfire, you could not even go out the front door.We hid under the stairs while the militants and the Iraqi forces fired at each other.”
In recent weeks, the fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic State militants has intensified,and soldiers say the battle that began last week — for Mosul’s Old City — could be the most deadly yet.
Aid workers say there might be as many as a million people displaced from Mosul city alone by the time this war is through.
And as crowds arrive in the rapidly growing number of camps surrounding Mosul,security forces are cautious as IS militants attempt to sneak out of the city, posing as refugees.
“We have sources reporting IS militants in cities, towns and villages.We also have photographs and know if someone is giving us a fake ID.”
Families say the camps are often short on medical care, food and electricity,but these conditions are often better than the war they fled.
“We used to store water in tanks, but when shrapnel hit them it was gone, we also ran out of food.”
The United Nations says it needs 37 million dollars in additional funding to keep operations going over the next month as Iraqi forces attack IS in the most densely populated parts of Mosul.
Heather Murdock, VOA News, Hammam Aleel, Iraq.
