543 civilians killed in Iraq violence in March: UN

Terrorist acts, violence and armed conflicts across Iraq killed a total of 543 civilians and wounded 561 others in March, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said on Saturday.

A UNAMI statement said figures of casualties do not include security members, as the Iraqi military declined to give information about casualties among the troops.

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

March'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.

Most of the civilian casualties occurred in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, where 543 were killed and 561 others injured in fierce battles between Iraqi forces and Islamic State (IS) militants in western Mosul.

Jan Kubis, the UN envoy to Iraq and the UNAMI chief, condemned IS continued deliberate targeting of civilians and praised the efforts of the Iraqi government to protect civilians during the fighting in Mosul, according to the statement.

"The terrorists have used every possible wicked way to inflict casualties on civilians. Daesh (IS) terrorists have forcibly transferred civilians, holding them as human shields as they retreated or at strategic locations in densely populated areas," Kubis said.

In some cases, the IS "placed civilians in booby-trapped buildings that its terrorists used to launch attacks on government forces, shot at civilians attempting to flee to Iraqi security lines or deliberately shelled civilian areas," Kubis added.

"I welcome the commitment of the government of Iraq to the protection of civilians in the conduct of military operations and their reiteration that the protection of their citizens is an absolute priority," he said.

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 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