Mass food poisoning in Mosul camp: child dies

A mass food poisoning at a camp for displaced people near the northern city of Mosul has killed at least two and sickened hundreds, Iraq’s health minister Adila Hamoud said.

Hamoud told The Associated Press in Baghdad that 752 people took ill after a meal the previous evening at the Hassan Sham U2 camp, located about 20 kilometers east of Mosul.

The food, containing beans, chicken and yoghurt, was prepared in a restaurant in Irbil and brought to the camp by a Qatari charity, Rudaw news agency said.

It quoted camp supervisor Rizgar Obed as saying that outside organisations had previously been banned from bringing in food, but the camp authorities had been forced "under great pressure" to change the regulations.

The restaurant owner has been arrested.

The camp is one of 13 built by the UNHCR in the Mosul area to cope with people fleeing from the city and surrounding villages. It currently houses 6,235 people.