ISIS shooting civilians fleeing Fallujah, aid group says

Militants with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)have been shooting at civilians trying to flee the fighting between Iraqi government forces and members of the extremist group in the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, an international aid organization says.

A number of civilians were killed as they tried to cross the Euphrates River some by climbing into barrels or refrigerators,the Norwegian Refugee Councilsaid in a report late Sunday. The NRC, which works with refugees and internally displaced Iraqis, said the report is based oninterviews with some of those who fled.

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"We tried to escape on foot using secret roads. We made it but there were many accidents on the way," said one woman, who gave her name as Hannah.

"There were cases where people ended up dead and many children were lost. It was hard, very hard."

Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, have been fighting to retake the ISIS-held city of Fallujah since late May, but the advance stalled last week because of heavy resistance by militants, and because an estimated 50,000 civilians remain trapped inside the city.

"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. "This is the worst that we feared would happen to innocent men, women and children who have had to leave everything behind in order to save their lives."

Iraqi forces secure agricultural area

The NRC said a total of 2,980 familiesmanaged to flee from the outskirts of Fallujah in the early days of the Iraqi offensive, which started May 21. Only a couple more families have managed to escape from inside Fallujah since then, the NRC added.

On Sunday, Iraqi forces secured the southern edge of Fallujah, a largely agricultural area.

The Fallujah operation in Iraq coincides with a twin offensive on ISISstrongholds in neighbouring Syria. Syrian Kurdish forces are advancing on Manbij, an ISIS-held city controlling the supply route between the Turkish border and the town of Raqqa, the militants' de facto capital.

At the same time, Syrian government troops are advancing on Raqqa from the south.

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