(VOVworld) – The Iraqi army has established a safe corridor that has allowed 4,000 Fallujah residents to flee the jihadist-held city over 24 hours, the Norwegian Refugee Council said on Sunday.

Displaced Iraqis who have been evacuated from their villages by government forces south of besieged IS group bastion of Fallujah in a safe zone in Subayat on June 12, 2016 (Photo: AFP)

The safe passage leads to the southwest of Fallujah, along a road where the Islamic State group killed at least 18 members of two families trying to flee on Friday. An officer with the Joint Operations Command supervising the fight against IS said the army had opened a safe corridor for families fleeing through the Al-Salam intersection. Around 24,000 people have fled IS rule since Iraqi forces launched an offensive on May 22-23, but very few have been able to leave central Fallujah where the jihadists are using civilians as human shields.