ERBIL, Iraq — Mohammed was 5 years old when his little brother was shot dead before his eyes. This happened in June 2014 when Islamic State (IS) militants stormed the city of Mosul and took over large parts of northern Iraq.

“IS terrorists shot my child because I was a soldier in the Iraqi army,” Mohammed’s father, a skinny man with deep lines in his face, told Al-Monitor with tears in his eyes. “And after they killed my son, they forced us to leave our home the same day. Money, jewelry, clothing — we had to leave behind everything we had in exchange for our lives.”

Mohammed, his parents and four sisters fled to the Kurdish region in Iraq and now live in the Baharka refugee camp. Ever since their arrival at the camp, Mohammed suffers from war trauma. After his brother’s death, he was unable to speak for more than seven months, and even now he is still afraid to go to school or talk to strangers. “At the slightest provocation, he relives the murder of his brother again,” his parents said.

His father added, “Mohammed also needed surgery on a nerve in his neck. The doctor said there was too much pressure on it, which can be very dangerous.”