Displaced children evacuate a neighbourhood in West Mosul during the government-led offensive to retake Iraq's second largest city from Islamic State (IS) group jihadists, on March 16, 2017. Photo: AFP
Terrified Iraqi families fleeing fierce fighting in Mosul are drugging their children with sedatives or taping their mouths shut to prevent their cries alerting Islamic State militants as they try to escape, aid workers say.
Hala Jaber of the International Organization For Migration (IOM) said men caught trying to leave would be shot while women were sometimes tied up and left outside in the cold as a warning. Militants are also using civilians as human shields.
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