Some fled fearing retaliation by terrorists while others wanted to avoid the ongoing clashes and air-strikes in the area.

Many walked or drove for hours from the village of Abu Jarboa, carrying their most precious possessions, until they reached the newly established Khazer refugee camp, located West of Erbil.

An aid official with the Barzani Charity Foundation said families were being given basic aid necessities on arrival.

"When the operation to liberate Nineveh and Mosul began, families living in villages near Bartella and Bashiqa, around 200-240 families, were received here and given all the basic necessities," said Eldin, REUTERS Reported.

The Mosul campaign aims to retake the city from ISIS terrorists and crush the Iraqi half of the extremist group's declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

There are already more than three million people displaced in Iraq as a result of conflicts involving ISIS.

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