WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Some 3.2 million people have been displaced during the ongoing crisis in Iraq as government and Kurdish forces battle Islamic State extremists, an International Organization for Migration (IOM) report revealed on Friday.
The majority of internally displaced Iraqis were reportedly from the Anbar, Ninewa and Salah al-Din provinces, and slightly more than half a million were families.
"Massive displacement due to continued conflict persists across Iraq, and displaced Iraqis are in increasingly desperate situations," IOM Iraq Chief of Mission Thomas Lothar Weiss said. "Of the nearly 3.2 million displaced, one out of five are living in critical shelter arrangements, including unfinished buildings and informal settlements."
At least 350,000 displaced Iraqis, IOM also noted, are reported to have returned to their locations of origin.
IOM's report comes as Iraqi troops aided by Kurdish Peshmerga forces continue to battle the Islamic State, which has claimed large parts of territory in Iraq as well as in Syria over the past year.
More than 1,300 Iraqis have been killed as a result of the conflict since July, according to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq.
