1,232 killed in Iraq violence in November: UN

Baghdad, Dec 2 (IANS/EFE) At least 1,232 people were killed and 2,434 were injured as a result of acts of terrorism and violence committed in Iraq during November, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said Monday.

The UNAMI said in a statement that 936 civilians were among the victims, including 61 non-militarised police officers and 296 members of the security forces, including Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers and members of militias fighting alongside the Iraqi government.

The statement added that a total of 1,826 civilians were injured, including 71 civilian police officers and 608 members of the Iraqi security forces, militia and Kurdish forces.

In a break-down by provinces, Al Anbar had the highest recorded death toll, with 402 recorded civilian deaths, followed by Baghdad with 332 victims, 74 people slain in Saladin and 37 in Diyala.

"With nearly 12,000 people killed and nearly 22,000 injured since the beginning of 2014, Iraqis continue to be subjected to the unspeakable horrors of killing, maiming, reign of terror, displacement, extreme forms of intolerance and poverty," the statement quoted UN envoy and UNAMI chief Nickolay Mladenov as saying.

"I take this opportunity to go on encouraging Iraq's political, religious and social leaders to act decisively to rise above their differences in order to resolve the pending political, social and economic problems, and restore confidence among Iraq's communities, more particularly its disaffected groups, as part of consolidating the democratic process", he said.

Iraq has been locked in bloody struggle since June with the Sunni radical group Islamic State, which has proclaimed a caliphate in territories under its control in northern Iraq and Syria.

--IANS/EFE

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