ANBAR, Iraq

Five refugees from the same family were burnt to death on Wednesday in Fallujah in western Iraq, according to a local police officer. 

Captain Ahmed al-Duleimi said the refugees died when their tent caught fire at al-Markazi refugee camp, south of Fallujah.

“A father, his wife and three children were killed in the accident,” he told Anadolu Agency.

He said a heather had caused the blaze.

Iraq has suffered a devastating security vacuum since mid-2014, when Daesh terrorist group captured the northern city of Mosul – now the subject of a large offensive to retake it – and overran large swathes of territory in the northern and western parts of the country.

According to the UN, more than 3.4 million people are now displaced in Iraq – more than half of them children – while more than 10 million are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

Reporting by Suleiman al-Qubeisi; Writing by Mohamed Sabry Emam Muhammed;