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Suspected chemical attack wounds at least 12
01:50 - Source: CNN

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Number fleeing fighting has risen by 10,000 in two days

Officials ready for 100,000 more at refugee camps outside the city

CNN  — 

The number of civilians fleeing western Mosul in recent weeks has topped 57,000, an Iraqi official said Sunday.

Iraqis have been leaving in large numbers since last month’s start of the military operation to take back the western part of the city from ISIS.

Their ranks rose by more than 10,000 in the past two days, the government said.

A woman from west Mosul carries her child and the few possessions she could gather before escaping the city. By Saturday the Iraqi government estimated that nearly 50,000 people had fled western Mosul to government-controlled territory. They end up in refugee camps hastily set up around the city by the government and local and international relief groups.
A woman from west Mosul carries her child and the few possessions she could gather before escaping the city. By Saturday the Iraqi government estimated that nearly 50,000 people had fled western Mosul to government-controlled territory. They end up in refugee camps hastily set up around the city by the government and local and international relief groups.
Kareem Khadder/CNN
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Related gallery Fearful residents flee western Mosul

Also last week, 12 Mosul residents, inlcuding five children, were treated for injuries from a suspected chemical attack, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

Civilians killed by landmines

The Iraqi government is providing relief and food. It can handle another 100,000 displaced people from western Mosul at refugee camps, Minister of Migration and Displacement Jassem Mohammad al-Jaff said Sunday.

On Friday, ministry figures showed 46,000 people had left since the fighting began February 19.

Since Mosul’s capture by ISIS fighters in June 2014, Mosul has been a vital stronghold for ISIS.

The largest city under the terror group’s control in Iraq and Syria, it was the city from which the group first declared the establishment of its so-called caliphate

CNN’s Kareem Khadder contributed to this report from Irbil, Iraq.