1,375 people killed in Iraq violence in January: UN

A total of 1,375 Iraqis were killed and 2,240 others were injured in terrorist attacks and violence in January in Iraq, according to a statement issued on Sunday by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

The statement said that 790 civilians, including 59 policemen, and 585 Iraqi security forces personnel were killed, while 1,469 civilians including 69 policemen were wounded. An additional 771 security members were wounded in terrorist and violent acts during the month.

The statement said that the Iraqi capital of Baghdad was the worst affected province with 1,014 civilian casualties (256 killed, 758 injured). While the volatile Anbar province followed with 779 (195 killed and 584 injured). Then the provinces of Diyala, Salahudin, Nineveh and Kirkuk followed in the list.

"In general, UNAMI has been hindered in effectively verifying casualties in conflict areas. The figures reported have to be considered as the absolute minimum," the statement said, adding that there are unknown persons who have died from secondary effects of violence after having fled their homes due to exposure to the elements, lack of water, food, medicine and health care.

The security situation in the country has drastically deteriorated since June, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and hundreds of militants from the Islamic State (IS).

The militants took control of the country's northern city of Mosul and later seized swathes of territories after Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts in Nineveh and other predominantly Sunni provinces.

Earlier, a UN reports said that 2014 has witnessed some of the worst violence in years, leaving at least 12,282 civilians killed and 23,126 others injured, making it the deadliest year since the flare-up of sectarian violence in 2006-2007, according to a recent UN report. Endit