UN Casualty Figures for December; 2014 deadliest since 2008 in Iraq Baghdad, 1 January 2015 – According to casualty figures released today by UNAMI, a total of 1,101 Iraqis were killed and another 1,868 were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence in December*. The number of civilians killed was 680 (including 29 civilian police), while the number of civilians injured was 1,360 (including 24 civilian police). A further 421 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed and 508 were injured. From 01 January to 31 December 2014, UNAMI recorded a total minimum number of 35,408 civilian casualties (12,282 killed and 23,126 injured). The number of civilian casualties (including police) in 2014 has been higher than that in 2008, when there were 26,965 civilian casualties recorded (6,787 killed and 20,178 injured) and is the worst experienced by Iraq since the violence in 2006-2007. “Yet again, the Iraqi ordinary citizen continues to suffer from violence and terrorism. 2014 has seen the highest number of causalities since the violence in 2006-2007. This is a very sad state of affairs,” the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Iraq, Mr. Nickolay Mladenov said. “Once again, I call on all political actors in Iraq to come together and find peaceful solutions to the problems that face the country. I do hope that 2015 will be a year in which this can be done,” SRSG Mladenov added. The month of June registered the highest number of casualties in 2014, with a total of 4,126 civilian casualties (1,775 killed and 2,351 injured – Anbar included). From 01 June, when armed violence spread from Anbar to other areas of Iraq, to 31 December 2014 there were a total of 22,292 civilian casualties (8,481 killed and 13,811 injured) (including Police, and including Anbar). During December, Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate with 1,051 civilian casualties (320 killed, 731 injured). According to information obtained by UNAMI from the Health Directorate in Anbar, up to 30 December inclusive, the Governorate suffered a total of 669 civilian casualties (164 killed and 505 injured). This included 66 killed and 361 injured in Ramadi and 98 killed and 144 injured in Fallujah. Salah al-Din had 74 killed and 29 injured while Diyala had 48 killed and 33 injured. *CAVEATS: In general, UNAMI has been hindered in effectively verifying casualties in conflict areas. Figures for casualties from Anbar Governorate are provided by the Health Directorate and are noted above. In some cases, UNAMI could only partially verify certain incidents. UNAMI has also received, without being able to verify, reports of significant numbers of casualties along with unknown numbers of persons who have died from secondary effects of violence after having fled their homes due to exposure to the elements, lack of water, food, medicines and health care. For these reasons, the figures reported have to be considered as the absolute minimum.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 17:52:32 +0000