1.3 million children have been displaced by Iraq's war with Islamic State

Children make up about half of the 2.6 million people displaced in Iraq after a three-year war with Islamic State militants, the United Nations said on Friday.

Relief for these 1.3 million children may be a long way off, as persisting violence hampers efforts to ease their suffering.

The Baghdad government last month declared victory over Islamic State after wrestling back almost all the territory IS seized in 2014, but persistent bombing and shooting attacks make it difficult to rebuild the lives of displaced people, according to Unicef, the UN children’s agency.

“We believe that as a result of the conflict, a lack of investment over the years and the poverty … that there are 4 million children now in need across Iraq,” said Peter Hawkins, Unicef chief representative in the country.

He told a Geneva news briefing by telephone from Baghdad that 1.3 million of the 2.6 million displaced by the fight with Islamic State were children.

“While the fighting has come to an end in several areas, spikes of violence continue in others – just this week, three bombings went off in Baghdad,” Unicef Regional Director Geert Cappelaere said in a statement.