10,500 people displaced due to Mosul operation: UN

More than 10,500 people have to date been recorded as internally displaced as a result of the Mosul military operation in Iraq, a UN spokesman told reporters here Wednesday.

"The majority of the displaced are sheltering in host communities while others are sheltering at three displacement camps outside of Mosul," Xinhua news agency quoted UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric as saying.

Humanitarian partners continue to provide assistance to displaced families and wherever access allows, he said.

Iraqi security forces recaptured more villages last Tuesday from the IS militants, as part of a major offensive which started on October 17 in a bid to liberate the city of Mosul, the last major IS stronghold in Iraq.

Mosul, nearly 400 km from Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control.

--IANS

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