Kurds prevent displaced Iraqis from entering Kurdish areas
Peshmerga forces have prevented hundreds of Iraqi families, who managed to escape from IS-controlled areas after Iraqi air forces dropped leaflets advising them to leave, from entering Kirkuk.
2 min read
Iraqi civilians flee IS-controlled areas [Getty]
Kurdish Peshmerga forces have prevented hundreds of Iraqi families, who escaped Islamic State group-controlled areas, from entering Kurdish-controlled areas in Kirkuk Province.
Kirkuk MP Khaled al-Mafraji told reporters that the Peshmerga had prevented more than 300 families from entering the town of al-Dibs in Kirkuk province.
He said the families had escaped al-Huwija after the Iraqi Air Force dropped leaflets on IS-controlled districts, asking civilians to leave those areas, which would soon "be turned into battlefronts and military zones".
Mafraji called on the federal government, local authorities, and international organisations to urgently intervene to help those displaced from areas outside the control of Iraqi forces, stressing the need to take them to safe areas.
Iraq's parliamentary speaker, Saleem al-Jubouri, called on the government to expedite the process of improving the condition of displaced families.
The Iraqi Parliament Migration Committee asked the government to allocate three trillion Iraqi dinars ($2.5 billion) from the 2016 budget for migrants' needs, saying that the current amount ($800 million) could only support 15 percent of those who needed the help.
IS continues to hold tens of thousands of families under siege in Anbar, Nineveh, Salahuddin and Kirkuk provinces, as well as in other Iraqi areas. The organisation issued an order to prevent the residents of areas under its control from leaving and has imposed severe penalties on those who try to escape.
Civilians in IS areas have been living in critical economic and health conditions and are suffering under daily air raids by Iraqi and international forces.
Civilians, including children, are being used by IS as human shields, according to the international coalition and Iraqi government forces.
There are also reports that IS has lately raised the slogan "we either turn our region to paradise or we go to paradise", which was interpreted by residents there to be a call for everyone to die, particularly as civilians are not allowed to leave.
Kirkuk MP Khaled al-Mafraji told reporters that the Peshmerga had prevented more than 300 families from entering the town of al-Dibs in Kirkuk province.
He said the families had escaped al-Huwija after the Iraqi Air Force dropped leaflets on IS-controlled districts, asking civilians to leave those areas, which would soon "be turned into battlefronts and military zones".
Mafraji called on the federal government, local authorities, and international organisations to urgently intervene to help those displaced from areas outside the control of Iraqi forces, stressing the need to take them to safe areas.
Iraq's parliamentary speaker, Saleem al-Jubouri, called on the government to expedite the process of improving the condition of displaced families.
The Iraqi Parliament Migration Committee asked the government to allocate three trillion Iraqi dinars ($2.5 billion) from the 2016 budget for migrants' needs, saying that the current amount ($800 million) could only support 15 percent of those who needed the help.
IS continues to hold tens of thousands of families under siege in Anbar, Nineveh, Salahuddin and Kirkuk provinces, as well as in other Iraqi areas. The organisation issued an order to prevent the residents of areas under its control from leaving and has imposed severe penalties on those who try to escape.
Civilians in IS areas have been living in critical economic and health conditions and are suffering under daily air raids by Iraqi and international forces.
Civilians, including children, are being used by IS as human shields, according to the international coalition and Iraqi government forces.
There are also reports that IS has lately raised the slogan "we either turn our region to paradise or we go to paradise", which was interpreted by residents there to be a call for everyone to die, particularly as civilians are not allowed to leave.
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