At least 160,000 persons have been displaced by an Iraqi army offensive to liberate the city of Mosul from the Islamic State (IS) terror group, a top official announced on Monday.
Migration Minister Jasim Mohammed Mohammed Ali Eljaf said most of the displaced people were residing in five camps in the Nineveh and Saladin regions and in Iraqi Kurdistan, Efe news reported.
According to the minister, some 20,000 people were able to return to their homes after the army liberated villages in Nineveh and neighbourhoods in eastern Mosul.
On October 17, Iraqi and Kurdish forces launched an offensive to liberate Mosul, the IS' last bastion in Iraq, which the terror group had captured along with large swathes of territory in June 2014.
--IANS
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