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Iraqis flee western Mosul; UN warns of more displacement

Families flee clashes between Iraqi forces and Islamic State group militants in western Mosul on Thursday, March 2, 2017. The United Nations announced that displacement rates over the past week have been the highest since the operation began in October with 28,400 people displaced from Mosul's west since the push to retake it Began last month. (AP Photo/Susannah George)
Families flee clashes between Iraqi forces and Islamic State group militants in western Mosul on Thursday, March 2, 2017. The United Nations announced that displacement rates over the past week have been the highest since the operation began in October with 28,400 people displaced from Mosul's west since the push to retake it Began last month. (AP Photo/Susannah George) Families flee clashes between Iraqi forces and Islamic State group militants in western Mosul on Thursday, March 2, 2017. The United Nations announced that displacement rates over the past week have been the highest since the operation began in October with 28,400 people displaced from Mosul's west since the push to retake it Began last month. (AP Photo/Susannah George)

By Associated Press 2 min read

MOSUL, Iraq (AP) – Hundreds of Iraqi civilians continued to flee Mosul on foot Thursday as the Islamic State group launched fierce counterattacks on Iraqi positions along the city’s southwestern edge.

The fight to rout IS from western Mosul, the last urban IS bastion in Iraq, is causing higher numbers of displaced people than previously seen in the 4 ½-month-long offensive for Iraq’s second-largest city, according to a statement from the United Nations on Wednesday.

The U.N. said that 28,400 people have been forced from their homes since the operation began more than a week ago.

Inside Mosul’s Mamun neighborhood IS fighters trapped deeper inside the city launched salvos of mortar rounds, targeting Iraqi positions and along routes used by civilians to flee.

“There are so many families in Mosul, it turns all of our missions into two missions: protect the civilians and secure our own location,” said Iraqi special forces Lt. Nour Sabah.