During December 100s of Iraqis killed in Baghdad

[Anthea]

Rudaw

UN: Hundreds of Iraqis killed in December, mostly in Baghdad

A United Nations report on Friday said that 980 people lost their lives in Iraq in December 2015, an increase from the November death toll.

"The year 2015 has seen thousands of Iraqis killed and injured as a result of conflict and terrorism," said the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq Jan Kubis in a statement quoted by AP. "This is unacceptable."

The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq noted that this was an increase from 888 in November.

"The Iraqi people have everything right to live in peace and tranquility. The United Nations continues to deplore this continuing loss of life," he added.

Out of the 980 deaths 506 were civilians, the rest were security forces including some Kurdish Peshmerga.

The organization added that 1,244 civilians were also wounded in the last month of 2015.

The highest number of these deaths took place in Baghdad were an estimated 261 people were killed.

In Nineveh province, large swaths of which is still occupied by the Islamic State (ISIS), 68 people lost their lives.

In Anbar the organization had some trouble verifying the figure but it estimates that at least 124 people lost their lives there.

Iraqi Security Forces reached the center of Anbar's provincial capital of Ramadi late last month forcing out ISIS with close U.S. air support.

These UN figures bring the total number of recorded deaths in Iraq in 2015 to 7,515 killed and 14,855 wounded.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/01012016