GENEVA (Sputnik) — Over 59,700 people were displaced in the Iraqi city of Mosul amid the operation to liberate it from the Daesh terrorist group, with the number increasing by over 5,400 in the past five days, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Friday.
"One month into Mosul military operations, which began on 17 October, over 59,700 Iraqis are displaced from Mosul and adjacent districts as of 18 November, according to IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) Emergency Tracking…. The majority of displaced are from Mosul district (87 percent, over 51,800 individuals), and the districts of Al-Hamdaniya (8 percent, over 4,800 individuals), Tilkaif (4 percent, over 2,600 individuals) and Telefar (less than 1 percent, 60 individuals)," the organization said in a statement.
According to the IOM, over 3.1 million Iraqis have been displaced across the country since January 2014 through November 10, 2016.
Humanitarian organizations have warned that the offensive could displace 1.2-1.5 million people in and around Mosul.
Mosul, the second biggest Iraqi city, as well as a number of other northern and western Iraqi cities and towns were seized in 2014 during an offensive of the Daesh terror group, outlawed in Russia.
