812 people killed in Iraqi violence in April: UN

A total of 812 Iraqis were killed and 1,726 others injured in terrorist attacks and violence in April in Iraq, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said on Sunday.

A statement by the UN mission said 535 civilians, including 30 policemen, and 277 Iraqi security forces personnel were killed, while 1,456 other civilians, including 58 policemen, and 270 security members were wounded.

The UNAMI excluded the casualties in Anbar province where fierce clashes are underway between the Iraqi forces and the Islamic State (IS) militant group which has seized most of the province.

"In general, the 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 people who 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 noted that the Iraqi capital of Baghdad was the worst affected province with 1,165 civilian casualties (319 killed, 846 injured). While the provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, Salahudin and Nineveh followed in the list.

The UNAMI also said that it has received unconfirmed reports that up to 300 men of the Yazidi minority may have been murdered by the IS militants in the militant-held town of Tal Afar in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh on April 27, according to the statement.

The reports said that the Yazidis have been captured by IS militant group since August 2014 and were forcibly converted to Islam, the statement said, adding that "the UNAMI attempted to verify these reports, which may significantly alter the minimum civilian casualty figures for the month."

The Yazidi minority is primarily Kurdish. The religion of the Yazidis incorporates elements of many faiths, as a result of some of their beliefs and the mystery surrounding their religion, many Muslims and non-Muslims have come to see Yazidis as "infidels." This has led to violent attacks by extremist Islamist groups against them.

"Scores of innocent Iraqis are falling every day, victims of criminal terrorist acts and the ongoing armed conflict in some of the country's provinces," the statement quoted UN envoy for Iraq and UNAMI chief Jan Kubis as saying.

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 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 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. Endit