UN agency says 35,000 children have fled Iraq's Mosul
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MOSUL - The UN children's agency said Tuesday that about 35,000 children have fled from Mosul since Iraqi forces and a US-led coalition launched a massive operation in mid-October to retake the city from the Islamic State group.
The children are among some 93,500 people who have fled since the operation began, while hundreds of thousands have remained in their homes.
"Children are the innocent victims of any conflict and in this conflict are the most innocent victims," UNICEF's representative in Iraq, Peter Hawkins, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
He said that once ISIS is driven from the city it will be important to "invest in children's services so this war doesn't continue."
