A leader of the Iran-backed Shia coalition taking part in the offensive said the only side of Falluja that remained to be secured by pro-Baghdad forces was part of the western bank of the Euphrates.
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The head of a local provisional council, Shakir al Esawi, said that the bodies of two children, a woman and an older man had been pulled out of the water, according to the Independent.
“Our biggest fears are now tragically confirmed with civilians being directly targeted while trying to flee to safety”, said Nasr Muflahi, the NRC Country Director in Iraq.
Civilians fleeing Fallujah, an Iraqi stronghold of Islamic State (IS), are being shot as they try to leave, an aid agency says.
The NRC said a total of 2,980 families managed to flee from the outskirts of Fallujah in the early days of the Iraqi offensive, which started May 21.
“They used tunnels to mount surprise attacks on us”, said a media relations officer with the Badr Organization as he drove through what had until recently been a battlefield.
The city of Fallujah fell to ISIS savage terrorists in January 2014. “If you refused they’d shoot you on the spot”.
Meanwhile, a Shia militia commander said that around 4,000 civilians have been evacuated from northern Fallujah. Nine other people thought to have been on the vessel are missing.
No casualties were reported among the Iraqi forces.
A member of the Iraqi government forces monitors the front line near the village of al-Azraqiyah, northwest of the city of Fallujah on Sunday. Troops there “raised the national flag over the town’s main buildings”, Iraq’s Joint Operation Command said. Iraqi intelligence officials allowed the AP to speak by phone with the informant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his life.
“We tried to escape on foot using secret roads”.
Iraqi security forces said Saturday’s advances mean ISIS is losing its last strategic foothold between Falluja and the rest of Anbar province to the west, as well as other areas to the north.
Iraq is now witnessing a fresh wave of violence since the IS wrested control of parts of the country’s northern and western regions in June 2014.
Civilians who manage to leave the central city are received in camps set up by the government and the United Nations, where they get basic medical care, Muflahi said. The provincial capital, Raqqa, became the first city held by the militant group.
Families who managed to escape told of how ISIS jihadists opened fire on them as they crossed the Euphrates River on boats and makeshift rafts.
Another Iraqi intelligence official said at least 10 Islamic State fighters and security officials in Mosul were killed by the group in April on suspicion of giving information to the coalition because of various strikes in the city.
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Syrian troops began their advance toward the province Wednesday, the same day that US -backed forces launched an attack on the Islamic State stronghold of Manbij, about 72 miles northwest of Raqqa.
