Report: 5,000 flee Diyala violence in single week

A soldier with 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team walks past a child in order to clear a room in Diyala province in April

DIYALA, 14 May 2007 (IRIN) - Thousands of Iraqis have been fleeing Diyala province – and others fleeing villages from within the province - over the past week after an increase in attacks by armed groups and a major offensive by US and Iraqi troops...

"In the past six days more than 900 families, about 5,000 individuals, have fled Diyala governorate. Some of them were forced out by militants and others were scared of the clashes," said Faris Abdallah, media officer for Diyala governorate office.

The villages of Khalis and Ambugiya have seen considerable sectarian violence and the number of internally displaced people is greatest there, Abdallah said, adding that most are Shi'a. Most of the families which have fled Diyala have headed to places outside the province such as the southern provinces of Najaf, Kerbala or Basra. Some have moved to outskirts of the capital, Baghdad, where camps those displaced from Diyala have been set up. Few families have also been internally displaced within the province.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

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