385 civilians killed in violence in Iraq in Feb.: UN

Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts across Iraq killed a total of 385 civilians and wounded 609 others in February, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said on Wednesday.

A UNAMI statement said that figures of casualties did not include those of the security members.

Previous figures of security members' casualties were queried by Iraqi military authorities as "inaccurate," while UNAMI responded that "the military figures were largely unverified."

February's results also excluded the casualties in Iraq's western province of Anbar, where volatility of the situation on the ground disrupted figures from there, the statement said.

The UN envoy to Iraq and the UNAMI chief Jan Kubis condemned Islamic State (IS) deliberate targeting of civilians, while saluted the Iraqi security forces for professionalism in pursuing the terrorists while seeking to minimize civilian casualties, according to the statement.

The UNAMI statement came as the Iraqi security forces backed by anti-IS international coalition are carrying out a major offensive to drive out the IS militants from its last major stronghold in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq.

Earlier, the UNAMI said that a total of 6,878 civilians were killed and 12,388 wounded in 2016, adding that the figures did not include the civilian casualty figures for Anbar province for the months of May, July, August and December.

Iraq has witnessed intensifying violence since the IS extremist group took control of parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014. Endit