West Mosul fighting sees 400,000 displaced since February

More than 400,000 Iraqis have fled fighting in western Mosul since February, as the Iraqi army continues its campaign to wrest back control of the city from the Islamic State group, the UN said this week.

The UN report from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 434,775 people have fled their homes in western Mosul over the past two months.

Around 30,000 people returned to their homes in April, the report added, bringing the total amount of internally displaced people (IDPs) to 403,490.

Around 324,000 of those displaced are currently being sheltered in camps and emergency sites, with the rest being housed in nearby communities and at informal sites.

The operation to wrest back control of west Mosul from IS began in mid-February and saw thousands of Iraqi forces retake most southern and western neighbourhoods.

Since that time, 615,000 people have fled the city, according to the Iraqi government.

IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by US-led airstrikes have since regained much of the territory they lost.

Last week, Iraqi forces launched a fresh push on the Islamic State group in Mosul, opening a northern front in their battle for the west side of the city.

The fresh operation comes after a relative lull in fighting around the Old City, densely packed area where the remaining militants are believed to be holed up.

Fighting between Iraqi forces and the Islamic State group has significantly impacted the humanitarian situation for civilians, OCHA said.

"Serious concerns remain for the protection of civilians in the west of the city, where approximately 360,000 people are still living in ISIL-controlled areas," the UN body added.