August 31, 2014

Geneva: The current conflict in Iraq and the indiscriminate shelling and the usage of barrel bombs by the government army against the civilian areas and populated cities, as well as the activities of the government-backed militias have; forcibly displaced people, the total number since January passes 1.6 million.

Over the current month, 8,50,000 people have been displaced, the International Organisation for Migration(IOM) said on Friday.

Few of them fled to Baghdad, fearing the wrath of government security agencies and sectarian militias backed by the ruling parties and the neighbouring Iran.

Most of those who have fled have found refuge in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan, the IOM, a non-governmental organisation, said.

"Such overwhelming numbers point to a long-term crisis, one that may find many more in need of critical lifesaving assistance," the organisation's emergency coordinator for Iraq, Brian Kelly, said in a statement.

An overwhelming number of the refugees now living in mosques, churches, schools, parks and buildings under construction without running water or electricity, were originally from Iraq's cities and towns of the west-north.

Iraq has been the scene of sectarian conflict since last January, when tribal revolutionaries have confronted the brutal governmental offensive on the sit-ins square in Ramadi and other cities in the western and northern regions of the country, not to mention the unspeakable crimes committed by government-backed militias against residents in the areas of Baghdad belt that surrounding the capital.




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