Iraq: 267 IDPs return to hometowns in Anbar province
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration on Sunday announced the return of 267 internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their areas in the country’s western Anbar province.
It is part of “a series of voluntary return” of IDPs to their homes, the ministry explained in a statement.
The IDPs in question were residing in the Amiriyat Fallujah Camp and the city of Habbaniya before heading back to their homes in al-Qaim and Saqlawiyah, in Anbar.
The Ministry of Displacement and Migration, in coordination with the Transport Ministry and local forces, organized their return after finishing administrative and security procedures, the statement asserted, adding the return program would continue until all IDPs have returned to their homes.
Last month, under the same program, the Ministry announced the return of 1,087 more IDPs from camps south of Mosul to their homes in the Nineveh province.
Following the emergence of the Islamic State in Iraq in 2014, over six million Iraqis were displaced in the country.
After the military defeat of the jihadist group, the number of IDPs has since dropped to below two million, 1.2 million of which are in the autonomous Kurdistan Region.
Many Iraqi IDPs refuse to return to their areas due to security concerns and lack of basic services there.
Over the past year, the Islamic State has carried out insurgency attacks, kidnappings, and ambushes in the country despite Iraq declaring victory against the jihadist group in December 2017.
Editing by Nadia Riva