Almost 19,000 civilians killed in Iraq in less than 2 years: UN

At least 18,802 civilians were killed and some 36,245 wounded by the violence of Islamic State (IS) militant group in Iraq in less than two years, while some over 3.2 million people have fled their homes, a UN report said on Tuesday.

"The violence suffered by civilians in Iraq remains staggering. IS group continues to commit systematic and widespread violence and abuses of international human rights law and humanitarian law. These acts may, in some instances, amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide," said the report which covered the period between Jan. 1, 2014 and Oct. 31, 2015.

The report, compiled by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), gave examples of IS killings "in gruesome public spectacles, including by shooting, beheading, bulldozing, burning alive and throwing off the top of buildings."

It also said that between 800 and 900 children have been abducted in the IS-held city of Mosul in northern Iraq, to be religiously indoctrinated and given military training, while the extremist group continued to subject both women and children to "sexual violence, particularly in the form of sexual slavery."

The report pointed out that its information is largely based on testimony obtained directly from the victims, survivors or witnesses of violence, as well as interviews with internally displaced people.

"I strongly reiterate my call to all parties to the conflict to ensure the protection of civilians from the effects of violence," the report quoted UN envoy for Iraq and UNAMI chief Jan Kubis as saying.

Kubis also called on the international community to enhance its support to the government of Iraq's humanitarian, stabilization and reconstruction efforts in areas liberated from IS, so that all Iraqis displaced by violence can return to their homes in safety, according to the report.

"I urge the government to use all means to ensure law and order, necessary for the voluntary return of IDPs (internally displaced people) to their place of origin, a task of primary importance given the recent wave of violence and killings, often of sectarian nature, notably in Diyala and Baghdad," Kubis said.

The report also quoted UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein as saying that the civilian death toll may be considerably higher, and called for urgent action to rein in the impunity enjoyed by the vast majority of the perpetrators of violence.

"Even the obscene casualty figures fail to accurately reflect exactly how terribly civilians are suffering in Iraq. The figures capture those who were killed or maimed by overt violence, but countless others have died from the lack of access to basic food, water or medical care," al-Hussein said.

Iraq is currently witnessing a wave of violence since the IS terrorist group took control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions in June 2014.

Earlier, an UNAMI report estimated 7,515 were killed and 14,855 injured in the armed conflict in Iraq during the 12 months of 2015, according to figures obtained from UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). Endit