KALAK, Iraq (AP) — Hundreds of Iraqi men, women and
children crammed into vehicles fled their homes Thursday, fearing
clashes, kidnapping and rape after Islamic militants seized large
swathes of northern Iraq.
The families and fleeing soldiers who
arrived at a checkpoint at the northern frontier of this largely
autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq were among some half-million people
who have fled their homes since Monday, according to a U.N. estimate.
Workers
were busily extending the Khazer checkpoint in the frontier area known
as Kalak, where displaced women hungrily munched on sandwiches
distributed by aid workers and soldiers rushed to process people.
The
exodus began after fighters of the al-Qaida breakaway group, the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, seized the northern city of Mosul
in a stunning assault Monday. Since then, the militants have moved
southward toward the capital, Baghdad, in the biggest crisis to face
Iraq in years.
"Masked men came to our house and they threatened
us: ‘We will get to you.’ So we fled," said Abed, a laborer who
abandoned his home on the edge of Mosul Thursday. "They kidnapped other
people. They took away some people for interrogation."
The young
man said rumors were quickly spreading that Islamic State fighters — as
well as masked bandits taking advantage of the chaos — were seizing
young women for rape or forced marriage.
"They are destroying the
honor of families," said Abed, who, like many of the displaced, wouldn’t
give his full name, fearing the Islamic State fighters.
Many of
the displaced said they were on the move because they feared retribution
by Iraq’s military — underscoring the grave sectarian tensions that
have allowed the Islamic State fighters, who are Sunni extremists, to
conquer so fast and deeply.
Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, is
mostly Sunni, and many residents have long complained of discrimination
and mistreatment by the Shiite-dominated central government.
"We
were worried the struggle would get bigger, that Maliki’s army would
shell us," said a middle-aged Sunni woman, referring to the country’s
Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
"Whoever will rule us — let them rule us," said her husband Talal Ahmad, 62. "We just want
our children to be safe."
Many
waiting to be processed at the Khazer checkpoint, set among golden
wheat fields, echoed similar concerns. Most hadn’t seen fighting but
heard occasional gunshots. They saw other people fleeing and so joined
the exodus.
Many said they panicked after hearing Iraqi army
soldiers had abandoned their posts, sure it meant that heavy shelling to
drive out the insurgents would follow.
"We left after we saw everybody else leaving," said Abir, a 33-year-old teacher who fled with
her husband and three children.
The chaos of the fighting, just some 60 miles away, was evident in Kalak.
Kurdish
forces, which act as a de-facto military in the largely autonomous
region, took possession of at least a dozen Iraqi military vehicles
abandoned by soldiers as they fled their posts ahead of the advancing
Islamic State fighters.
The Kurdish soldiers could be seen driving
the dirty yellow Humvees, with the national flag emblazoned on them,
toward the regional capital, Irbil.
One fleeing Iraqi soldier said
he was ordered by his officer to abandon his post, even before Islamic
State fighters reached the area.
"We didn’t even raise our
weapons. This isn’t even unimaginable — it’s madness," said 38-year-old
Shaker Karam. "We didn’t even see a terrorist."
At the checkpoint, Kurdish workers erected shelters in anticipation of the arrival of more displaced
Iraqis.
Four
men measured out an area amid a whipping dust and rain storm to protect
the long lines of Iraqis from the sweltering heat. Beside them lay a
large pile of water bottles to distribute. Just hours before, they set
up a row of public toilets and erected a tent for exhausted women to
rest in privacy.
Those who reached the Khazer checkpoint were among the lucky ones.
The
U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, said thousands of displaced,
particularly children, were sheltering in schools, hospitals and mosques
outside Mosul, many of them without adequate water, sanitation, or
shelter. The Red Cross said it had already distributed food and relief
to 8,000 people near Mosul.
Many fled with little more than the
clothing on their backs and, arriving without money said they would have
to rely on donations.
Abed’s extended family, including his
elderly mother and young nieces, said they didn’t know where they would
sleep Thursday night.
Talal Ahmad’s family of 12 was sleeping in the back of a pickup truck that was lined with thin
mattresses.
Abir, the teacher, said her middle-class family had enough money for a hotel for a month.
"But we hope to be back before then," she said anxiously.