173,000 Iraqis escape Daesh-occupied regions since October

The number which is an increase from the 169,999 refugees declared just two months prior, local media reported Tuesday.

The displaced refugees have been placed in refugee camps across the Nineveh, Kirkuk, Salahuddin, Erbil, and Dohuk provinces, the Iraq’s Ministry of Migration and Displacement said as cited by the IraqiNews online newspaper. The operation to liberate Mosul from Daesh terrorists, outlawed in many countries, including Russia, began on October 17, 2016. Iraqi troops managed to advance in the eastern part of the city, but the western part — on the right bank of the Tigris River — remained under militant control.