UN: December Violence Kills 980 in Iraq

Local Editor

The United Nations stated on Friday that violence claimed the lives of 980 Iraqis in December, up from 888 the previous month.

Relatively, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, known as UNAMI, said in a statement that 506 of those killed in December were civilians, while the rest were security forces, including Kurdish peshmerga and paramilitary troops.

Besides, the statement added that 1,244 civilians were wounded in December.

"The worst-affected province was Baghdad with 261 killed, followed by Ninevah province with 68."

Citing local health authorities, the UN said 124 civilians were killed in Anbar province, whose large areas are under "ISIS" terrorist group's control. The organization also mentioned that it could not fully verify the Anbar figures due to the increased volatility of the situation on the ground and the disruption of services.

In all, December figures brought the total number of civilian causalities in 2015 to 7,515 killed and 14,855 wounded.

For his part, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq, Jan Kubis said in the statement that: "The Iraqi people have every right to live in peace and tranquility. The United Nations continues to deplore this continuing loss of life."

In the context, "ISIS" seized much of northern and western Iraq, including the second largest city, Mosul, in the summer of 2014. The extremists declared a caliphate in the areas of Iraq and Syria under their control and imposed a harsh and violent version of so-called "Islamic" law.

In addition, "ISIS" seized Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province in May, in its biggest advance since the start of a US-led air campaign in August 2014.

However on Monday, Iraqi forces backed by US-led airstrikes drove the group's terrorists out of the city center of Ramadi and raised the Iraqi flag over the main government complex there.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team