[ti:Iraq Conflict Deadly for Children, Says UNICEF] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.12]The continuing conflict in Iraq has brought destruction to many areas of the country. [00:08.00]It also has had an extreme cost for families and children, as well. [00:16.20]The United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, [00:20.48]says fighting has displaced more than 1.5 million children in the last three years. [00:28.96]Their stories are hard to hear. [00:33.24]Zamin Makhool is 28 years old. [00:37.72]Last December, she lost two of her children in an airstrike in her neighborhood. [00:45.56]An explosive struck her home, leaving it a pile of wreckage. [00:51.44]It left a hole three meters deep. [00:55.44]Her four-year-old son and nine-month-old daughter died. [01:00.80]Her son died while playing with his "spinning top" toy, she says. [01:07.40]Her baby daughter was crushed in the collapsed house. [01:12.32]The attack took place at a time when Islamic State militants controlled the neighborhood. [01:20.76]Since 2014, UNICEF says more than 1,000 children have been killed in Iraq. [01:30.20]The organization says Islamic State militants claimed territory [01:36.36]-- including Mosul and other cities -- during that period. [01:42.64]Peter Hawkins is a UNICEF representative in Iraq. [01:47.60]He said in a statement that, "Across Iraq, [01:52.76]children continue to witness sheer horror and unimaginable violence." [02:00.36]The fighting continues in Mosul's Old City, [02:04.28]the last place in Mosul where Islamic State still holds power. [02:10.56]Several families recently arrived at a field hospital [02:15.88]near the Old City neighborhood to seek treatment. [02:21.32]One mother brought her baby, Saja, who is one year old. [02:27.36]She told the doctors that the child had not been fed enough for months. [02:33.60]The doctors tried to inject nutrients into her bloodstream with a needle. [02:41.32]"Even the families of militants are trying to flee the Old City now," [02:46.72]said the child's mother. "It's too dangerous." [02:52.24]One day before she came to the hospital, she said, [02:56.24]militants had heard that her family was planning to run away. [03:01.60]They shot her husband in their house. [03:04.76]She then took her children and fled the neighborhood. [03:09.44]UNICEF and fleeing civilians say militants are killing parents and children. [03:17.48]They also are preventing families from fleeing and punishing ones that do. [03:24.72]Mortars, airstrikes and so-called improvised explosive devices [03:31.36]are harming children and adults. [03:35.16]But starvation and disease are greater threats to children. [03:40.72]Conditions for those displaced by conflict are extremely difficult. [03:47.76]Families have gathered in refugee camps in the desert areas surrounding Mosul. [03:55.16]Temperatures during the day can reach 40 degrees Celsius in the summer. [04:03.00]Living conditions in the camps in Iraqi-controlled Mosul [04:07.72]are poor, with bad food and dirty water. [04:13.36]There is also a lack of health care. [04:17.12]Major Mohammad Hassan Abdullah is a medical doctor with the Iraqi Army. [04:25.20]He works at a field clinic near the front lines. [04:31.32]"We have 500 to 600 people coming every day, [04:36.00]mostly babies and elderly people," he said. [04:40.32]"The problem could nearly be solved with clean water." [04:46.20]Zamin Makhool has one daughter still living. [04:51.24]The family lives in a refugee camp. [04:55.36]She says they get their food from non-governmental organizations. [05:01.44]But food does not come every day. [05:05.28]Makhool's husband, Ibrahim, says violence against children [05:11.04]will continue as long as Islamic State militants hold territory in Iraq. [05:19.16]Ibrahim says he was trying to sell his car [05:23.61]when the family's two young children were killed in the airstrike. [05:29.88]The target of the attack was likely nearby Islamic State bases, [05:35.40]or a house next door where militants were living. [05:40.76]"It wasn't a mistake that airstrikes hit our neighborhood," [05:44.64]Ibrahim Makhool said as he showed a picture of his destroyed home. [05:51.04]"There were three IS (Islamic State) bases in the area." [05:55.84]"They live between families to try to stay safe," he said. [06:00.72]"Then when we are hit, they move on." [06:05.32]I'm Mario Ritter. [06:06.96]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM