Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadistds of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah on October 24, 2016.
The UN refugee agency is preparing to receive 150,000 Iraqis fleeing fighting around the Islamic State group-held city of Mosul within the next few days, its chief said.
/ AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC
TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) – Two roadside bombs struck a convoy carrying Iraqi families fleeing an Islamic State-controlled town in the north of the country late on Friday, killing 18 people, a police officer said.
The bombs targeted a truck carrying people from Hawija, about 120 km (75 miles) south of Islamic State’s stronghold in Mosul, as they were being taken to the town of Al Alam, next to the Tigris river.
Seventeen of the dead were from the displaced families, regional police Colonel Nemaa al-Jabouri told Reuters. One policeman in an accompanying patrol car was also killed.
Pictures published on social media by a group linked to Iraq’s defence ministry showed several blackened corpses next to the twisted metal remains of the truck.
(Reporting by Ghazwan Hassan; Editing by Ahmed Rasheed and Dominic Evans)
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