50,000 Flee Mosul as Battle Against ISIS Advances in Iraq

A cloud of smoke rises in the background as an Iraqi family walks from the ISIS-controlled part of Mosul towards Iraqi special forces soldiers on March 4.

United Nations officials tell NBC News that at least 50,000 people have fled the city since the latest offensive by U.S.-backed Iraqi forces began on Feb. 19. 

A man cries as he carries his daughter while walking from an ISIS-controlled part of Mosul on March 4.

Iraqi forces have been making steady progress towards the militant group's remaining stronghold in the city. 

A man and a woman carry a child as they run from the ISIS-controlled part of Mosul on March 4.

The ISIS occupation, and the fight to drive the group out of the city, have had a devastating impact on thousands of civilians who have been trapped in the city, or displaced.

An Iraqi special forces soldier shoots dead an alleged ISIS suicide bomber in Mosul on March 3.

Mosul is the last remaining urban center controlled by ISIS in Iraq. 

A woman cries after crossing from the ISIS-controlled part of Mosul on March 4.

Government forces captured the eastern side of the city in January 2017, after 100 days of fighting. 

An Iraqi special forces soldier runs across a street during a battle with ISIS militants on March 3.

The city's capture would effectively crush the Iraqi wing of the group's self-declared caliphate. 

Iraqi soldiers walk in the foreground as smoke rises from an airstrike against ISIS fighters on March 4.

Iraqi men fleeing fighting in Mosul are separated from their families to be registered and checked to determine whether they are ISIS fighters on March 4.

The Iraqi military believes several thousand militants, including many who traveled from Western countries, are hunkered down among the remaining civilian population, which aid agencies estimated to number 750,000 in western Mosul at the start of the latest offensive.

Displaced Iraqis flee their homes in western Mosul on March 6.

Aid agencies have expressed concern that camps to accommodate people fleeing the city are almost full.

A displaced Iraqi man holds his injured wife's hands as they are transported on a Humvee on March 6.

Displaced Iraqis flee their homes in the Al Mansour district of western Mosul on March 6.

An Iraqi soldier delivers aid to displaced residents of Mosul on March 3.

A displaced Iraqi woman carries her injured daughter after fleeing their home in western Mosul on March 4.

More photos from Mosul exodus