ICRC: At least 800 displaced after Iranian operation against PJAK

ANF / 25 July 2011

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said at least 800 Kurds were displaced in result of the recent Iranian operation against Kurdish guerillas.

 "ICRC has provided humanitarian assistance to over 800 internally displaced people in northern Iraq, all of whom have been driven from their homes by the recent shelling in the mountains of Qandil," along the border, the ICRC said in a statement on Monday.

"Having left behind all their belongings, the majority of these people are now living under makeshift shelters, tents, or sharing crowded houses with relatives and friends, while a few families could afford renting very basic accommodation," it said.

Meanwhile, the Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration said Sunday it was involved in relief efforts in the area, providing basic needs such as beds, plastic furniture and water purification kits.

"Ongoing fighting between Iranian military forces and Iraqi Kurdish separatists has led to the displacement of hundreds of families," the IOM's Iraq mission said.

"The families had been forced to abandon their homes and move to a camp several miles (kilometres) away after numerous artillery strikes on the village. One villager was reported wounded by the strikes, which damaged several homes and the local school," it said in a statement.

ANF NEWS AGENCY