2 killed, hundreds ill in food poisoning at Iraqi camp

Baghdad, June 13 (IANS) Two persons died and hundreds of displaced people fell ill due to a mass food poisoning at a camp for the displaced near the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Zahid al-Khatoni, an Iraqi Member of Parliament, said that at al-Khazir-2 refugee camp some 900 displaced people from Mosul fell ill on Monday after "eating their Ramadan meal which were presented by a Qatari humanitarian organisation".

People were said to be vomiting and suffering dehydration after an iftar meal, to break the daily Ramadan fast.

The authorities of the autonomous Kurdish region launched an investigation into the incident to determine the exact source of the poisoning, Xinhua news agency reported.

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

Nowzad Hadi, the governor of the region's capital city Arbil, said on Tuesday that seven people of the Qatari charity were arrested.

Irbil health department sent medic teams and 30 ambulances to the camp.

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.

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