BAGHDAD
More than 110,000 families have fled the Iraqi provinces of Mosul, Saladin, Diyala and Kirkuk in search of security from the devastating conflict in the country, official data has revealed.
As many as 113,316 families have migrated to Iraq's southern and central provinces and to the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north, fleeing from the armed insurgency led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, Muhammad al-Huzai, from the Iraqi Red Crescent told Anadolu Agency on Sunday.
Families migrating to the north are reported to be in less favorable conditions, Huzai said.
Last week, the Iraqi Red Crescent announced that more than 340 Christian families fled Mosul under threats from ISIL.
Iraq has been gripped by lawlessness amid a recent increase in sectarian violence between the country's Sunni and Shia Muslims.
Meanwhile, at least 10 militants were killed in army operations in Diyala on Sunday, officials said.
Eight security officers were wounded in clashes with ISIL-led fighters in the town of al-Halis in northern Diyala, provincial assembly's security chief Sadeq al-Husaini told Anadolu Agency.
The violence in Iraq has escalated since early June after a coalition of armed insurgent groups led by ISIL 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
