UN mission in Iraq said in its monthly update on Thursday that 1,057 people were killed and another 2,326 were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence in July - the highest monthly toll since 2008.
According to casualty figures released by United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), most of the victims were civilians, 928 and 2,109 respectively. 129 members of the Iraqi Security Forces were killed and 217 were injured last month.
"The impact of violence on civilians remains disturbingly high, with at least 4,137 civilians killed and 9,865 injured since the beginning of 2013," the Acting Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq, Gyorgy Busztin, warned. "We haven't seen such numbers in more than five years, when the blind rage of sectarian strife that inflicted such deep wounds upon this country was finally abating," he added. The UN Envoy reiterated an urgent call on "Iraq's political leaders to take immediate and decisive action to stop the senseless bloodshed, and to prevent these dark days from returning."
Baghdad was the worst-affected governorate in July with 957 civilian casualties (238 killed and 719 injured), followed by Salahuddin, Ninewa, Diyala, Kirkuk and Anbar.
Babil, Wasit and Basra reported casualties in double-digit figures.
Violence is at its highest since 2008 in Iraq, which has been witnessing frequent bombings and gun attacks for the past several months, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki admitted that sectarian conflict has returned to the country.
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