Report: 'Militants' exploit internally displaced Iraqis for water

Left: Children drink water from a broken water pipe last week.

Many internally displaced persons (IDPs) in camps in Iraq are facing shortages of water, especially clean drinking water, and the situation is being exploited by unscrupulous militants, local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) say.

Some displaced families have said militants have been delivering clean water to their camps by truck and demanding money, goods or "favours" in return.

"They [militants] sometimes ask for money knowing we don't have any, and then start to search our tents to see if there is something useful, while armed men stay near the truck with their guns aimed at us," said Omar Lattif, 45, an IDP at Rahman camp on the outskirts of Missan in southern Iraq.

"Sometimes they even ask for fun with 'nice girls'," he said, adding that two men in the community had been killed for confronting militants demanding sex for water.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet

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