UN: 20,000 children are trapped in Isis stronghold Fallujah

Advance: Iraqi forces south of Fallujah are moving in on the militant-held city
AFP
Mark Wilkinson1 June 2016

The United Nations today warned troops fighting to recapture Fallujah to protect the thousands of children trapped there.

Backed by aerial support from the US-led coalition, Iraqi government soldiers last week launched a military operation to retake the city, which has been under Islamic State control for more than two years.

But the UN’s children’s fund says at least 20,000 children are trapped inside the IS stronghold, which lies 40 miles west of Baghdad.

Unicef said the children face a dire humanitarian situation, as well as the risk of forced recruitment into the fighting by IS militants. It called on “all parties to protect children inside Fallujah” and “provide safe passage to those wishing to leave the city”.

Peter Hawkins, Unicef’s representative in Iraq, said: “We are concerned over the protection of children in the face of extreme violence.

“Children who are forcibly recru-ited into the fighting see their lives and futures jeopardised as they are forced to carry and use arms, fighting an adults’ war.” Fallujah was the first large city in the country to fall to IS and it is the last major urban area controlled by the Sunni-led group in western Iraq. The final assault to recapture it, which began last month, is expected to be protracted as IS has had more than two years to dig in.

Hidden bombs are believed to be strewn throughout the city, and the presence of about 50,000 trapped civilians will limit the use of supporting air strikes. Bruno Geddo, the UN refugee agency’s representative in Iraq, told Al Jazeera: “Those who make the decision of trying to flee know that at every step they might find death. If they manage to reach a safe corridor, the Iraqi army can evacuate them. However, if they are caught, they will be executed. To reach the safe area is extremely risky and dangerous.”

“Food is completely unaffordable and the price of [50kg of] flour has sky-rocketed to more than $700. People are now eating rotten dates and yoghurt to survive,” he said.

Yesterday, after government forces advanced through the southern suburb of Nuaimiya, IS mounted a fierce counterattack. Lt Gen Abdelwahab al-Saadi, the commander of the Falluja operation, said about 100 IS fighters had taken part in the offensive and 75 of them had been killed.

“They came at us heavily armed but did not use car bombs or suicide bombers,” he said. However, officers with special forces in the area told Associated Press that the jihadists had sent out six explosives-laden cars, none of which reached their targets.

IS still control Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, in the north, and smaller towns and patches of territory in the country’s west and north.

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