65000 civilians in Daesh prisons in western Anbar
The Daesh or (ISIS/ISIL) militants are holding 65000 civilians inside their last two remaining havens in western Anbar province of Iraq, a human rights monitor said as military operations managed to reclaim a third bastion.
Those are trapped inside the cities of al-Qaim and Rawa, and are prevented from leaving by mobile militant patrols, according to the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights.
It predicted thousands of civilians to flee to Baghdad and security-held areas in Anbar, voicing fears that the militants were possibly going to use the civilians as hina shields.
Iraqi army forces on Thursday completely took over the town of Annah, just two days after operations launched to free western Anbar from Daesh.
The small towns of Qa’im, Rawa and Anna have been held by Daesh since 2014.
