Over 19,000 Iraqi civilians killed, injured in 2016: UN

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – A total of 6,878 civilians in Iraq had been killed and another 12,388 wounded during 2016, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) reported on Monday.

UNAMI mentioned due to the acts of terrorism, violence, and armed conflicts in the country, 385 Iraqi civilians had been killed and 1,060 injured during the month of December.

The figures provided above do not include Iraqi police and security casualties or victims from Anbar Province.

Among all provinces in Iraq, Nineveh was the worst affected region with 208 people killed and 511 wounded.

Baghdad came in second with 109 deaths and 523 injuries.

Kirkuk was the third-worst affected province where 64 residents were killed and 27 more wounded.

“Though the figures for December are lower than previous months, we are nevertheless noticing an increase in terrorist bombings toward the end of the month and in the last couple of days, targeting civilians,” Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG) Jan Kubis stated.

“This is, no doubt, an attempt by Da’esh to divert attention from their losses in Mosul,” Kubis added, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State (IS).

“Unfortunately, it is the innocent civilians who are paying the price,” he continued.

UNAMI also mentioned a total of 19,266 civilian casualties had been recorded during the year of 2016.

At the beginning of December 2016, UNAMI decided to discontinue the publication of military casualty figures after the Iraqi Joint Operation Command (IJOC) criticized the organization for publishing inaccurate information.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany