More than 3 Million Iraqis Displaced in 18 Months, Says IOM

More than three million people have been displaced by conflict in Iraq since the start of 2014, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday.

The IOM put the number of displaced at 3,087,372, with more than a quarter million of those who most recently fled their homes coming from Ramadi, which the Islamic State jihadist group seized last month.

More than 2.6 million of the total are from Anbar, Nineveh and Salaheddin -- three provinces located west and north of Baghdad that have been the hardest hit by fighting between IS and pro-government forces.

IS launched a brutally effective offensive last June that overran the northern city of Mosul and then swept south towards the capital.

Prior to that, anti-government fighters seized all of the city of Fallujah and parts of Ramadi west of Baghdad, prompting tens of thousands of people to flee.