Children drown as thousands of desperate civilians try to cross river under sniper fire to escape ISIS
Terror group using innocent people as human shields as Iraqi army surrounds Fallujah
DESPERATE civilians have been drowning as they try to swim across a river to escape ISIS in Fallujah, Iraq.
Children have been reported amongst the dead as people flee, often under heavy sniper fire, via the only route out of the besieged city that is still left open.
Thousands have been trying to cross the Euphrates as government forces close in on the city, located 32 miles to the west of the capital, Baghdad.
Caroline Gluck, senior public information officer of UNHCR, said over 12,000 had fled the area since the start of the offensive on May 23.
She told : “Many of them are desperate and travelled long journeys trying to avoid detection by ISIS with nothing but the clothes they wear.
“The fleeing families were traumatised, distraught and looked pale.”
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At least four people were reported as having died during the latest attempt – with nine more missing who were said to have been on the same boat.
The bodies of two kids, a woman and an elderly man were recovered from the water and taken to a hospital in an area controlled by the government, according to the UNHCR.
Crossing the river, which is 300m wide, is the only way out of the city as the Iraqi army and allied militias tighten the noose around the ISIS, with the help of US-led airstrikes.
Provincial council head Shakir al Essawi told : “They are using empty refrigerators, wooden cupboards and kerosene barrels as makeshift boats to cross the river.
“It is totally unsafe and this is why innocent people are drowning.”
He added that a thousand families had made the perilous crossing, often under fire from the terror group, and then dodging roadside bombs and booby traps on either side.
ISIS has been coming under increasing pressure recently from government forces and other militias and rebel groups in both Iraq and Syria.
This week Syrian government troops were reported to be closing in on the group’s stronghold and de facto capital of Raqqa.
Under the strain the jihadis have been accused of using civilians as human shields to protect vehicles and supplies.
And they have apparently refused to let the 50,000 non-combatants still inside Fallujah leave safely despite the Iraqi army slowing its assault to allow civilians time to flee.
No aid has reached the besieged city since September 2015, and aid groups have reported people surviving on animal feed and filthy river water.
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