UN provides food, medical supplies for displaced Iraqis

The UN has provided food and medical supplies to the displaced people in Iraq's Anbar province.

Deputy spokesman Farhan Haq Monday said the UN will release World Food Programme (WFP) rations for 30,000 people, half a tonne of World Health Organization (WHO) medical supplies and 3,500 UN Population Fund (UNFPA) hygiene kits and 1,000 clean delivery kits for women, Xinhua reported.

Haq said that 180,000 people have reportedly been displaced in Anbar due to heavy fighting between the Iraqi security forces and the Islamic State (IS).

"Thousands of men, women and children are reportedly still on the move, many in trucks along highway," he said.

"Many are in urgent need of life-saving assistance, including food, water and shelter."

On Oct 2, hundreds of IS militants stormed Anbar's Heet city and seized most of its neighbourhoods following fierce clashes with the Iraqi forces and allied Sunni tribesmen.

Iraqi army forces withdrew from a military base at the edge of Heet, leaving the town and the base in the hands of IS militants.