6,000 Iraqi civilians return to homes in eastern Mosul

By Ali Jawad

BAGHDAD (AA) - More than 6,000 displaced Iraqi civilians have returned to their homes in areas recently recaptured from the Daesh terrorist group in eastern Mosul, according to an Iraqi aid official.

Iraqi forces have driven Daesh terrorists from most of Mosul’s eastern districts as part of a wide-ranging Iraqi army offensive launched last October to retake the city, which was overrun by the terrorist group in mid-2014.

"More than 6,000 people, mostly women and children, have now left the refugee camps and returned to their homes [in eastern Mosul]," Iyad Rafed of the Iraqi Red Crescent Society told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

According to Rafed, the return of refugees to their homes is being overseen by Iraqi security forces in coordination with humanitarian relief officials.

The Iraqi authorities estimate that more than 191,000 civilians have fled their homes in eastern Mosul since the army’s Mosul campaign began four months ago.

Last week, Iraqi officials said some 60,000 people had returned to their homes in "liberated" parts of Mosul, once considered Iraq’s second largest city in terms of population.