For more than three years they lived under the brutal ISIS ‘caliphate’ in Mosul, and the faces of civilians caught up in the war-torn city show the horrors they have endured.
A new series of pictures by four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Carol Guzy serve as a heartbreaking reminder of the traumas faced by the city’s population.
Wounded and weak, most who survived life under the jihadists and the brutal battle to liberate Mosul which was launched last year, now face an uncertain future in the limbo of refugee camps.
ISIS took control of the northern Iraqi city in June 2014, and it was not until October last year that Iraqi, Kurdish, American, and French forces were able to drive the jihadists back. Iraqi forces finally declared the city had been liberated last month.
Washington Post photographer Guzy spent months in Iraq documenting the heavy price paid by civilians, and her images have been used in news coverage across the world.
Many of the images, some showing in graphic detail the injuries suffered by civilians, were taken at emergency centres across the city.
The UN estimates that nearly one million people fled their homes during the battle for Mosul, and authorities face a huge humanitarian crisis, with camps set up for those who have been displaced struggling under the weight of demand.
Wounded and weak, a young child with facial bandages shows the trauma she has endured in the city of Mosul in the heartbreaking series of photos captured by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Carol Guzy. It is estimated that around 40,000 civilians lost their lives in fighting between ISIS and Kurdish, American, French and Iraqi forces. The city was finally liberated last month, but a huge humanitarian crisis is still unfolding, with up to one million people having been forced to leave their homes
Washington Post photographer Guzy spent months in Iraq documenting the heavy price paid by civilians, and her images have been used in news coverage across the world. An injured girl is pictured being treated at a medical Trauma Stabilisation Point near Mosul’s Old City, which has been the site of intense fighting in the battle to liberate it from ISIS
Heartbreaking: An Iraqi woman named Alia holds the body of her child, Ula, who died on a truck on the way to a Trauma Stabilisation Point in Mosul, where it is estimated around 40,000 civilians have been killed since October last year, when an offensive was launched to drive ISIS out of the city
A woman who has suffered serious facial injuries is one of the survivors from the city, which was captured by ISIS in 2014 and liberated earlier this year after a brutal battle to drive the jihadists out, with immense firepower and air strikes used in the months between October 2016 and last month. Most of those who remain now face an uncertain future
A refugee has water splashed on her face by volunteers at a Trauma Stabilization Point after enduring more than two years under ISIS before surviving the brutal Battle for Mosul, which began in October last year. Before the city’s overthrow it was home to around 2.5 million people
A woman weeps about many family members buried under the rubble of her home still praying they can be rescued during the battle to liberate Mosul. During the fighting there were reports of civilians being used as human shields by jihadis, who set traps and used snipers to ensure that innocents could not escape the nightmare that was unfolding
The war in Mosul is over, but the humanitarian crisis continues. A woman is pictured arriving at a Trauma Stabilization Point near the Old City after fleeing her home during intense fighting in the northern Iraqi city. Some were forced to flee barefoot for more than 40 miles in order to reach safety during the conflict, with ISIS militants ensuring that escape from the city was very difficult
Two young children are among the tens of thousands who have been displaced during the brutal conflict to drive ISIS back. They are pictured near the Old City in the historic Iraqi city
The UN estimates that around one million people have fled their homes in Mosul, with camps for the displaced struggling to cope with the demand
A man suffering from head injuries receives emergency medical care from Global Response Management at a Trauma Stabilization Point in the city of Mosul
A woman and a young child are pictured in the ruins of Mosul’s Old Town, where thousands have died in the brutal battle to liberate the city which has left hundreds of thousands displaced
A young man with a head injury is treated in Mosul, where there is a huge humanitarian crisis despite the city’s liberation from ISIS