A NEW 6,000-capacity refugee camp has been opened near Mosul just four weeks after a 30,000-space facility was set up as families flee the Iraqi city.
The Iraqi army expects its fight to drive Daesh from the city will be over “within days”, where just ten per cent of the urban centre remains under the terror group’s control.
Fears for ordinary residents have grown in recent days following reports that starving families have been trapped in their homes by militants welding doors closed or setting booby traps to prevent their escape.
Locals still inside the western part of Mosul made the reports in WhatsApp messages to friends and family in freed areas.
However, thousands continue to flee to caps for displaced people in the vicinity.
The Hammam al-Alil 2 camp, which can hold 30,000 people, opened less than one month ago, but is already “almost full”, according to the UNHCR refugee agency, which runs the camp.
A smaller camp for around 6,000 people opened around 60km from the city earlier this week and has already welcomed 500 members of 96 families.
Work on a larger centre capable of sheltering 60,000 people is now under way.
UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic said: “The risk to people fleeing Mosul is now very great, with people having to move being in grave danger.
“Families arriving from West Mosul report heavy bombing and fighting. They also tell UNHCR that there are no basic services in the city, no food, no water and no fuel. Some families have told us they have been living on one meal a day; often just bread, or flour and water, sometimes supplemented with tomato paste.”
Efforts to push Daesh out of Iraq’s second largest city in October and, according to Iraqi authorities, 630,000 people have since been displaced, including 434,000 who have left western Mosul since the middle of February.
Meanwhile, only 141,000 of these have returned to their homes in the city and 350,000 people are understood to remain trapped in Daesh-held zones.
More “large outflows” of people are expected as US and Iraqi troops press on.
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