Nearly 300 Killed in Eastern Aleppo Bombardment; Many Living in East Aleppo Want to Leave But Can't
VANIER: And warm welcome back to our viewers all around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I am Cyril Vanier.</s>ALLEN: I am Natalie Allen Let's talk our top stories.</s>VANIER: Activists say about 300 people have been killed in eastern Aleppo since Tuesday as Syrian government forces relentlessly bombard rebel-held areas there. Rescuers say it's the worse bombing since the civil war began more than five years ago. Doctors say not a single hospital in Aleppo is operating at full capacity.</s>ALLEN: Many people who live in Aleppo say, whether they want to leave or not, they cannot. CNN's Will Ripley spoke with one man in the eastern part of the city as bombs were falling around him.</s>VANIER: We want to warn you, some of the images in the report are disturbing.</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The explosions are like clockwork in rebel-held east Aleppo --</s>RIPLEY: -- all day, every day. ISHMIAL AL ABADULLAH (ph),</s>EAST ALEPPO RESIDENT: They don't know how to wake up normally without the sound of bombing.</s>RIPLEY: Ishmial Al Abdullah (ph) takes cover in his basement. During our conversation, I count at least 17 blasts.</s>AL ABADULLAH (ph): It is normal for us. We are not a human being anymore because of this.</s>RIPLEY (voice-over): This is a normal day in east Aleppo. First responders racing from one site to the next -- digging desperately for survivors like this little girl. She's in shock but alive. This little boy did not make it.</s>RIPLEY: In this strike, 15 were injured and three people died.</s>RIPLEY: "This is our country, our country," says this man, refusing to let destruction like this to force him move. (on camera): Why did you stay?</s>AL ABADULLAH (ph): What do we stay? We stay because it's our city. We stay because they have no place to go.</s>RIPLEY: Al Abdullah says the more than a quarter million people who remain in east Aleppo don't trust the so called humanitarian corridors. He says snipers on both sides shoots and kill people who try to leave.</s>AL ABADULLAH (ph): We aren't going to leave. We are going to die.</s>RIPLEY: He lost three friends in three days. He says many feel tired, hopeless, abandoned by the world. (on camera): That was close. That one.</s>AL ABADULLAH (ph): That one was close. I am going to go.</s>RIPLEY: OK. Be safe. Be safe. (voice-over): Despite nearly five years of pleading for help, the relentless bombing of east Aleppo continues.</s>ALLEN: Technology, they can skype with the news media but they cannot get out of the city. Unreal. Iraqi forces say they have killed the ISIS commander of eastern Mosul. A spokesperson says the commander was in charge of military operations in that area. Several other ISIS militants were also reportedly killed. Iraqis forces have been fighting to recapture Mosul for more than one month.</s>VANIER: Also, in Mosul, food and water were distributed to residents of the city Sunday in the areas recaptured from ISIS. Men, women and children rushed to pick up supplies from the aid trucks. People said they suffered from lack of food and water while they were under control of the terror group. The U.N. estimates that nearly 59,000 people have been displayed by the fighting there.</s>ALLEN: North eastern Nigeria was once overrun by Boko Haram. But it is what the terror group left behind this is now an even bigger threat to area, and that's starvation.</s>VANIER: The United Nations estimates 75,000 children are at risk of dying in the next year alone. Our David McKenzie reports.</s>DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Descending over a gutted school, destroyed by ISIS-linked Boko Haram. This video, shot by UNICEF, a first glimpse of an area once firmly under the terrorists' control. Now, safe enough for a brief visit. It's here in Banki (ph) that 21 of the kidnap Chibok school girls were recently released after months of tense negotiations. It was a success. More than two years ago, the kidnapping of the 276 girls sparked a global outcry. On a far greater scale, here, the forgotten victims of this brutal war remain. Tens of thousands have poured into Banki (ph) to keep safe in what they call widow's houses where women and girls shelter.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): As we were fleeing, Boko Haram stopped us. They beat my husband and took him away.</s>MCKENZIE: Later, Yongana (ph), not her real name, found out they killed her husband. She's left with her 18-month-old daughter. So many of the men had been killed.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I keep on dreaming about my husband. Life is difficult without him. I cannot get him out of my mind.</s>MCKENZIE: As the international military coalition squeezes Boko Haram out of territory, aid organizations are uncovering a crisis on an extraordinary scale.</s>MCKENZIE: Seven million people need help, most of them children, throughout northeast Nigeria. Tens of thousands could die from malnutrition.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is not enough access to those areas. There's all likelihood of all being lost. That's where we see a high rate of malnutrition.</s>MCKENZIE: A manmade crisis that in the months ahead could develop into a full-blown famine. David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg, South Africa.</s>VANIER: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us. We're back after this.