UNITED NATIONS -- About 15,000 civilians were killed and 30,000 more were wounded in the armed conflict in Iraqsince January 2014, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said here Monday.
From Jan. 1, 2014 through to the end of April 2015, UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) recorded at least 44,136 civilian casualties -- 14,947 killed and 29,189 wounded -- in the armed conflict in the country, according to a UN report released Monday.
"Widespread human rights violations and massive displacement continue unabated throughout the country," said Dujarric.
The report, jointly compiled by UNAMI and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, noted that more than 2.8 million civilians had become internally displaced in Iraq, including an estimated 1.3 million children.
The report also pointed out that the situation of civilians in areas under the control of the Islamic State (IS) remains dire. It said as many as 3,000 to 3,500 men, women and children from Yezidi community and other ethnic and religious communities remain in IS captivity enduring physical and sexual violence.
"Civilians continued to be murdered, often in grim public spectacles," said the report. "Those affiliated with or perceived to be affiliated with the Iraqi Government or security forces have been systematically killed by the group, and many have been kidnapped and subjected to other forms of ill-treatment."
The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since June 2014 when bloody clashes broke out between security forces and IS militants. The report found that from Dec.1 to the end of April 2015, a minimum of 10,768 civilian casualties resulted from the ongoing violence.
The IS militants took control of the country's northern city of Mosul and later seized swaths of territories after Iraqi security forces abandoned their posts in Nineveh and other predominantly Sunni provinces.
The Iraqi security forces on Monday started a major offensive to recapture key cities and towns held by IS militants in the western province of Anbar. They have allied with Hashd Shaabi paramilitary militias and have been fighting for months to retake key cities and towns in Anbar. IS militants had seized most of the province and tried to advance toward Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, but several counter attacks by security forces and Shiite militias have pushed them back.
