The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said in a report on Friday that the total number of Iraqis displaced since the beginning of the year has now exceeded 1.5 million.

It added that most of the displaced Iraqis belong to ethno-religious minority groups.

According to the committee, the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militancy and the Iraqi army’s operation against the terrorist group have forced civilians in northern parts of the country to leave their homes.

It added that the ongoing ISIL offensive in Iraq “has a grave impact on a variety of minority groups.”

It also said that in the past weeks, thousands of civilians have been either killed or put at risk of death in Iraq.

Since early this year, Iraq has been facing a growing militancy by the ISIL Takfiri group and its allied militants, who have taken over areas in the country’s west and north. The crisis has deteriorated since June, when the ISIL declared a so-called caliphate in the territories they have seized.

The ISIL terrorists have threatened all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and Yazidis Kurds, in Iraq. They have been committing heinous crimes in the areas they have taken, including the mass execution of civilians as well as Iraqi army troops and officers.

NTJ/MB