35 Thousand Iraqi kids flee Mosul in almost 2 months: UN

“Children are the innocent victims of any conflict and in this conflict are the most innocent victims,” Peter Hawkins, the UNICEF Representative in Iraq, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

He further expressed concern over the mental situation of the displaced Iraqi kids, saying that “they’re not smiling, they’re sad.”

Once Daesh is forced out of Mosul, it will be important to “invest in children’s services so this war doesn’t continue,” Hawkins added.

The official did not provide the exact number of the children killed, but he said some of them had been targeted by snipers.

The 35,000 children are among some 93,500 people who have fled Mosul since October 17, when Iraqi army troops and allied fighters began an operation to retake Daesh’s last major urban stronghold in the Arab country.