Over 1,273 people killed in Iraq violence in October
22 Nov CHINADAILY
A total of 1,273 Iraqis were killed and 2,010 others were injured in
terrorist attacks and violence in October in Iraq, according to a
statement issued on Saturday by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).
The statement said that 856 civilians, including 139 civilian
policemen, and 417 Iraqi security forces personnel were killed, while
1,490 civilians including 172 civilian policemen were wounded.
An additional 520 security members were wounded in terrorist and
violent acts during 31 days of the month.The UNAMI excluded the
casualties in Anbar province where fierce clashes flared up after Iraqi
police dismantled an anti- government protest site outside Ramadi in
late December last year.
However, the statement added that the “UNAMI has also received,
without being able to verify, reports of large numbers of casualties
along with unknown numbers of persons who died from secondary effects of
violence after having fled their homes due to exposure to the elements,
lack of water, food, medicines and health care.”
The Iraqi capital of Baghdad was the worst affected province, with
1,362 civilian casualties (379 killed, 983 injured).
The capital was followed by the provinces of Salahudin, Diyala,
Nineveh, Babil, Kirkuk and Karbala.UN envoy and UNAMI chief Nickolay
Mladenov voiced deep outrage about worsening violence that targeted all
Iraqi factions by the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL), which
later named the Islamic State group (IS), including those whose bodies
were discovered in mass graves in western Iraq.
“Justice and accountability for those responsible for these mass
executions, killings, disappearances and displacement must be ensured,”
he continued, urging the government of Iraq to ensure that all persons
or groups who commit or have committed such barbaric crimes are brought
to justice, according to the statement.
The security situation in the country has drastically deteriorated
since June 10, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security
forces and hundreds of Islamists militants from an armed group called
the Islamic State (IS). |