1.5 Million People Displaced in Iraq: Unicef

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An Iraqi boy holds a gun out of a bus filled with volunteers joining Iraqi security forces in the capital city of Baghdad. The volunteers are ready to fight Jihadist militants who have taken over several northern Iraqi cities. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced that the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteer to fight, and thousands have signed up.

15,00,000 is the number of people the United Nation’s children’s agency, Unicef, estimates has been displaced by the conflict in Iraq. At least 5 lakh people have fled their homes in Iraq’s second-largest city Mosul, which was captured by Sunni jihadists belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). Fourty Indians in Mosul are also suspected to have been kidnapped by ISIS militants. According to The Economist Intelligence Unit, the price of sweet light crude oil jumped by more than $4 per barrel in a matter of days ever since the Iraq crisis started.