adminBAGHDAD — The monthly death toll among Iraqis from violence reached more than 1 000 in July, marking the highest level in nearly five years, the UN said yesterday.A statement by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said a total of 1 057 Iraqis were killed and 2 326 wounded during the month as a result of unrest across the country.
The Iraqi capital of Baghdad is the worst-affected area with 957 civilian casualties (238 killed, 719 injured), followed by Salahuddin, Nineveh and Diyala, the statement said.
“We haven’t seen such numbers in more than five years, during which the blind rage of sectarian strife that inflicted deep wounds upon this country had finally abated,” Gyorgy Busztin, the UN acting envoy in Baghdad, said in the statement.
“I reiterate my urgent call on Iraq’s political leaders to take immediate and decisive actions to stop the senseless bloodshed, and to prevent these dark days from returning,” Busztin said.
However, government figures released on Wednesday said 989 people were killed in July, much fewer than the UNAMI numbers.
According to the Iraqi figures, 778 civilians, 88 policemen, 55 soldiers and 68 insurgents were killed by violence in July, while 1 567 people were wounded during the month, including 1 356 civilians, 122 police and 89 soldiers.
Tensions have been running high between the Iraqi Sunni and Shiite communities since late December 2012, when the Sunni Muslims started protesting the Shiite-led government.
The Sunnis accuse the government of marginalising them and claim that the Shiite-dominated security forces indiscriminately arrest and torture their sons.
However, 23 April was a turning point in the Sunnis’ protests when security forces backed by helicopters stormed a rally in the city of Hawijah, some 220 km north of Baghdad, killing and wounding dozens of protesters.
The military operation sparked further clashes across the country’s predominantly Sunni provinces between the Sunni tribes and the security forces. — AP
Online Reporter
Londile Moyo