The United Nations said on Friday in its recent report that more than 5,576 Iraqi civilians have been killed this year in violence.
It said in New York that this was as a result of months of unrest culminating in an assault by Sunni militants through the north of the country.
al Qaeda militants
The report said more than 1,665 have been wounded since January, when Sunni insurgents led by al Qaeda offshoot now known as the Islamic State, overran the city of Falluja in the western province of Anbar,
It said last month, that the insurgents seized swathes of northern Iraq, including the area’s largest city Mosul and of the 2,400 people killed in June, 1,531 were civilians.
The report documents what it calls “systematic and egregious violations” of international law by the group now calling itself the Islamic State.
The UN found that the group had executed civilians, committed sexual violence against women and girls, carried out kidnappings and targeted assassinations of political, community, and religious leaders and killed children, among other violations.
The report also details violations committed by government forces and affiliated groups, citing “summary executions/extrajudicial killings of prisoners and detainees”.
It said that if care was not taking, it could constitute a war crime.
The UN noted that the “deteriorating security situation” had limited its ability to directly monitor and verify incidents.
It said more than 1.2 million people had been displaced since violence escalated last month, according to the report. (Reuters).
