Geneva, Aug 30 (IANS/EFE): The Islamic State minlitants advancements have forcibly displaced 850,000 people in one month, the International Organisation for Migration(IOM) said Friday.

The total number of people who have been evacuated their homes since January have increased to 1.6 million.

Most of those who have fled have found refuge in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan, the IOM, a non-governmental organisation, said.

"Such overwhelming numbers point to a long-term crisis -- one that may find many more in need of critical lifesaving assistance," the organisation's emergency coordinator for Iraq, Brian Kelly, said in a statement.

Many of the people fleeing into the Kurdish region "have already been on the move for weeks and months," he said.

An overwhelming number of the refugees now living in churches, mosques, schools, parks and buildings under construction without running water or electricity, were originally from Mosul, Iraq's second city, and the town of Sinjar.

Iraq has been the scene of sectarian conflict since last June, when Sunni insurgents launched a powerful offensive in the northern region of the country.