World Bulletin/News Desk

The number of internally displaced Iraqi families fleeing to capital Baghdad has increased to 40,000 due to Iraqi military operations against ISIL, an Iraqi government official said on Saturday.

“The number of the internally displaced families has reached 40,000 families in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. 6,000 families have recently moved to Baghdad as last statistics of December 2014 showed the number of 34,000 displaced families existed in Baghdad,” Riyad al-Addad the president of Baghdad governorate’s council, said.

“The internally displaced families moved from Diyala, Anbar, Saladin and Nineveh provinces to Baghdad due to lack of security,” Addad said.

Addad called on national and international authorities to provide shelter for the families.

 The number of the Iraqi displaced families could not be independently verified.

The Iraqi internally displaced people suffer from lack of life standards in internally displaced people camps. The Iraqi Commission of Human rights -- a non-governmental organization -- announced on Wednesday the deaths of 17 internally displaced children across Iraq because of the severe cold wave.

The security situation has quickly deteriorated since June 10, when ISIL took over large swathes of Iraq. 

International relief organizations, such as the Red Cross and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, along with local organizations, such as the Iraqi Red Crescent and Iraqi Ministry of Immigration and Migrants, provide urgent help to fleeing citizens.

However, Iraqi officials have said that the volume of aid offered by U.N. organizations to the displaced persons does not match the severity of the situation.