600,000 children among 1.5 million civilians trapped in IS-held Mosul: NGO

“It is a critical moment to protect children and open safe routes to allow the 1.5 million civilians, including about 600,000 children, still trapped in the city to leave safely,” the charity said.

Up to 600,000 children are among the civilians trapped in jihadist-held Mosul, Save The Children said on Tuesday, calling for safe corridors as Iraqi forces advanced on the city.

An Iraqi family who was displaced from the village of Abu Shuwayhah, south of the jihadist-held Mosul, return to their village following the arrival of Iraqi forces on Tuesday.(AFP Photo)

“It is a critical moment to protect children and open safe routes to allow the 1.5 million civilians, including about 600,000 children, still trapped in the city to leave safely,” the charity said.

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Iraqi forces reached the edges of Mosul on Tuesday, two weeks into a massive operation to retake the city they lost to the Islamic State jihadist group in June 2014.

“We cannot sit back and wait for another situation like Aleppo to unfold, whilst there is still the opportunity to get children out of the war zone,” the NGO’s Iraq director Maurizio Crivellaro said.

An estimated 250,000 people have been besieged by regime forces in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo for three months.

Most estimates put the number of people trapped in Mosul at more than a million, but accurate numbers are impossible to come by after more than two years of jihadist rule in the city.