Families from the Iraqi Kirkuk province that were displaced to the neighboring Salaheddine province have again decided to quit their hometown.
This time, the families opted to return to Salaheddine not due to terrorist threats in Kirkuk, but deteriorating security and a lack of job opportunities.
The German News Agency reported on Monday that several families are again leaving due to the loss of livelihoods, mainly agriculture, which is considered the main source of income for most residents.
In al-Alam district, northeast the city of Tikrit, authorities documented the reverse flow of 4,000 families, most of them from al-Hawija district in the Kirkuk province.
“Around 3,500 families live a normal life among residents in rented or meager houses, while 400 families are staying in al-Alam camp, north of the city,” said head of al-Alam local council, Jassem Al-Afari.
The official said the Ministry for the Displaced and some humanitarian organizations were taking care of refugees staying in the camp.
He said that around 50 of them are the families of ISIS terrorists.
Afari revealed that the majority of the returning families decided to stay in “skeletal” houses, which are incomplete and sometimes lack ceilings.
“Those families are living in very difficult conditions, particularly during the winter season,” he said, adding that authorities were providing them with all administrative facilities they needed.
For three years, al-Alam was the destination for thousands of families, who had escaped ISIS-controlled al-Hawija, which lies 55 kilometers west of Kirkuk.
Last year, those families returned to their hometowns after the Iraqi forces liberated the district.
“They killed my son in an attack near our house in al-Hawija, so I decided to return here to make sure my other son and six daughters stay safe,” said Ibrahim Mahmoud, a displaced Iraqi who currently lives in a skeletal house in one of the agricultural areas of al-Alam.
