More than 400,000 people have been displaced from western Mosul about two months into the Iraqi army's battle against ISIL, according to the UN.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, citing the Iraqi government, that 434,775 people have fled Mosul since Iraqi forces launched the western Mosul operation on February 19.

This brings the number of internally displaced people, since the Mosul operation started in October, to a total of 615,150 Iraqis.

According to OCHA, about 30,000 civilians have returned to their homes in western Mosul since the end of April - meaning that the number of internally displaced people from western Mosul stands at 403,490 people.

The UN Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, announced on Tuesday the opening of a new camp in eastern Mosul for citizens displaced from the west.

The Hasansham U2 camp has a capacity of 9,000.

In recent months, ISIL, has stepped up its attacks in different parts of Iraq, apparently in an effort to distract attention from the ongoing US-backed campaign to remove it from Mosul in northern Iraq.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Displaced Iraqi MAN, 30, poses for a photograph with his daughter at Hammam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq, March 29, 2017. REUTERS

Al-Jazeera