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World / Middle East

3,700 flee Falluja amid reports Islamic State using human shields -UN

Published: 31 May 2016 - 12:43 pm | Last Updated: 01 Nov 2021 - 06:20 am
Peninsula

Displaced Iraqi women and children swarm a Red Crescent ambulance handing out medicine at a newly-opened camp in the government-held town of Amriyat al-Fallujah 50 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of Baghdad, on May 29, 2016, which was set up to shelter people fleeing violence around the city of Fallujah. AFP / Jean Marc MOJON

 

GENEVA: Some 3,700 people have fled Falluja over the past week since the Iraqi army began its offensive on the city controlled by Islamic State, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.
“We have reports of casualities among people in the city centre in Falluja due to heavy shelling, including 7 members of one family on the 28th of May. We also have several reports of people being used as human shields by ISIL (Islamic State),” UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told a news briefing.

REUTERS