1,103 people killed in Iraq violence in February: UN

A total of 1,103 Iraqis were killed and 2,280 others were injured in terrorist attacks and violence in February in Iraq, according to a statement issued on Sunday by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

The statement said that 611 civilians, including 30 policemen, and 492 Iraqi security forces personnel were killed, while 1,353 civilians including 29 policemen were wounded. An additional 927 security members were wounded in terrorist and violent acts during the month.

The UNAMI excluded the casualties in Anbar province where fierce clashes flared up after Iraqi police dismantled an anti- government protest site outside Ramadi in late December 2013, the statement said.

"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.

It added 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 statement said that the Iraqi capital of Baghdad was the worst affected province with 1,204 civilian casualties (329 killed, 875 injured). While the provinces of Diyala, Salahudin and Nineveh followed in the list.

"Daily terrorist attacks perpetrated by ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, which later changed to Islamic State) continue to deliberately target all Iraqis. There are also concerning reports of a number of revenge killings by armed groups in areas recently liberated from ISIL," the statement quoted UN envoy and UNAMI chief Nickolay Mladenov as saying.

Mladenov also said that military solution would be impossible to solve the ISIL problem in the country.

"I therefore welcome the consistent calls for unity by the President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of Parliament. Any effort to achieve unity through reconciliation must be based on the constitution and the full participation of political, religious and community leaders from across Iraq," Mladenov added.

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 report 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