U.N. warns of Iraq refugee crisis

GENEVA, Switzerland, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- The United Nations' refugee agency is warning of a humanitarian crisis for several million Iraqis displaced by four years of war and insurgency.

In Geneva, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees agency said some 4.4 million Iraqis have fled their homes, with half elsewhere in the country and the other half scattered around neighboring countries.

A statement said as many as 60,000 people are leaving their homes every month. The agency said there are 1.4 million Iraqis living in Syria and 750,000 in Jordan.

The situation is just as dire inside Iraq, Andrew Harper, the head of the UNHCR Iraq Support Unit told the BBC. He said the governors of as many as 11 of the country's 18 provinces were blocking internal migrants from entering their territories, or denying them food and education if they do get in.

In Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, aid workers have reported they can't safely reach thousands of families because of the sectarian shootings and bombings, the report said.