UN:

382 civilians killed in Iraq violence in January

Rasa - Latest figures released by the United Nations show that terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts took the lives of some 400 civilians and left hundreds of others wounded in Iraq last month.

News ID: 427048

Date: 02 February 2017 - 17:33

RNA - The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said in a statement on Wednesday that a total of 382 Iraqis lost their lives in the month of January, while 908 others were injured.

The UN mission said the number of casualties does not include security members after Iraqi military authorities in December criticized UNAMI for figures about the deaths of police personnel announced for November.

January casualty figures were also not available from the embattled western province of Anbar as health officials were unable to monitor the area due to the volatility of the situation on the ground and the disruption of services.

“Daesh terrorists have focused their bombing attacks on markets and residential neighborhoods. They have cowardly targeted civilians - women, children and the elderly, who were going about their business or shopping,” Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq Jan Kubis said.

“Daesh's goal of breaking the will of the people has however collapsed in the face of the Iraqi people's resilience, despite all difficulties and hardship, and the steady advances of the Iraqi security forces in the operation to liberate Mosul from the terrorists,” Kubis added.

On Wednesday, Iraqi security and medical sources said a civilian was killed and five others were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off near an outdoor market in Boub al-Sham neighborhood on the northern outskirts of Baghdad.

A bomb also went off near the Diyala Bridge in southeastern Baghdad, leaving a civilian dead and four others injured.

Additionally, a bomb attack struck a commercial area in the Shaab neighborhood of southeastern Baghdad, wounding two people.

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by violence ever since Daesh terrorists began an offensive in Iraqi territory in June 2014.

Iraqi army soldiers, Hashd al-Sha’abi volunteers and Kurdish forces launched a joint operation on October 17, 2016 to retake the strategic northern city of Mosul from Daesh terrorists.

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