More than 2,300 cross into Iraq fleeing Syria fighting

The United Nations said Friday that more than 2,300 people, mostly women and children, had fled fighting in northeastern Syria and crossed into Iraq in recent days.

"For the fourth consecutive day, UNHCR ... has been receiving hundreds of refugees crossing the border into Iraq from northeast Syria," UN refugee agency spokesman Andrej Mahecic told reporters in Geneva.

He first said "over 1,600 Syrian refugees have been transported from the border areas to Bardarash refugee camp", about 150 kilometres (90 miles) east of the Syria-Iraq border.

But he later added that another 734 people had been registered crossing the border overnight.

The refugees, he said, had come mainly from Kurdish-majority towns in northern Syria, including Kobani, Amoda and Qamishly, and surrounding villages.

Mahecic said the camp had "been prepped to receive the latest arrivals fleeing the fighting in northern Syria."