KIRKUK, Iraq
The central government of Iraq launched a program Monday to provide financial aid to families who have migrated to the country's southern and central provinces and to the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, Kirkuk, in the north, fleeing the armed insurgency.
More than 110,000 families have fled the Iraqi provinces of Mosul, Saladin, Diyala and Kirkuk to escape the devastating conflict in the country, according to official Iraqi data.
At least 7,000 displaced families have flooded into the Kirkuk Immigration Office on Monday to get $900 in monthly financial aid but the office helped only 1,500 families out because they could not handle the influx.
The director of the immigration office, Ammar Sabah, said at least 30,000 families live in bad conditions and need urgent assistance.
"These people are miserable," he said. "Most of them do not have the money to buy food and drink. Every day almost 7,000 families come to us and we are trying to meet their needs."
Iraq has been gripped by lawlessness amid a recent increase in sectarian violence between the country's Sunni and Shia Muslims.
The violence in Iraq has escalated since early June after a coalition of armed insurgent groups led by ISIL -- or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant which had later changed its name to "Islamic State" -- took control of large swathes of the country's predominantly Sunni provinces.
The conflict between the army and militants entered a new stage last month when insurgents captured a number of key cities and towns in Iraq.
At least 60,000 Turkmen in the region have fled their homes after ISIL-led militants seized Turkmen-majority cities and towns, according to the UN's humanitarian agency.
www.aa.com.tr/en
