Displaced from Iraq’s Fallujah in 3 Days: NGO

According to the UNHCR, close to 70,000 people have already fled Fallujah, and another 60,000 could flee in the coming days.

There’s also fears of a mass outbreak of preventable diseases, such as polio and measles, for up to 70,000 or more displaced people outside Fallujah, and from the neighbouring city of Ramadi.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said the civilian exodus has overwhelmed camps run by the Iraqi government and humanitarian groups, leaving thousands without shelter or proper sanitation.

About 80,000 people have fled during a four-week government offensive to drive back Islamic State (IS) fighters, the United Nations said.

In Syria on Sunday, government forces advanced to within 6 miles of the Islamic State-occupied Tabqa air base in the northern part of the country, part of a push to try to unseat the extremist group from its de facto capital, Raqqa.

“We implore the Iraqi government to take charge of this humanitarian disaster unfolding on our watch”, said NRC Country Director Nasr Muflahi in a statement.

However, the government does not even have a count of refugees, many of whom are stranded out in the open or packed among several families in overcrowded tents.

Iraqis from Fallujah rest at a safe zone. “We’re down to the bare minimum of three litres per person, and we’re not really sure how long we can continue to do that”, said Muflahi.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has promised to support the displaced.

It said it believed dozens of families were still inside Fallujah, including the most vulnerable civilians such as pregnant women, the sick and the elderly.

Iraqi forces announced on June 17 that they had seized nearly full control over the strategic city of Fallujah, which had been in the hands of Daesh for nearly two and a half years.

Aid agencies are struggling to provide food, water and shelter for them.

“We don’t know where they are or where they were taken”, she said.