309 Iraqi civilians killed in April: UN

A total of 309 civilians were killed and 387 others injured during April due to violence, terrorism and armed conflicts across Iraq, a UN agency said on Monday.

The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (Unami) said figures of casualties do not include security members, as the Iraqi military declined to give information about casualties among the troops, Xinhua news agency reported.

April'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 agency said.

Most of the civilian casualties occurred in Nineveh province, where 153 were killed and 123 others injured in fierce battles between Iraqi forces and Islamic State (IS) militants in the terror group's stronghold Mosul city.

Jan Kubis, the UN envoy to Iraq and the Unami chief, said civilians continue to pay a heavy price in the conflict.

"IS terrorists have detonated car bombs in residential neighbourhoods in Mosul and attacked civilians desperately fleeing the fighting as the security forces liberate more territory from the terrorists. But (the group's) atrocities were not confined to the combat zones and spared no one," Kubis said.

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.

--IANS

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