More Civilians Killed Than Army in Iraq According to UN Report for January

According to the UN agency 1,375 Iraqis were killed and another 2,240 wounded in January in acts of terrorism and violence.

MOSCOW, February 1 (Sputnik) – As many as 1,375 Iraqis were killed and another 2,240 wounded in January in acts of terrorism and violence, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said in a statement Sunday.

"The number of civilians killed was 790 (Including 59 civilian police), and the number of civilians injured was 1,469 (including 69 civilian police). A further 585 members of the Iraqi Army were killed and 771 were injured," the statement read.

According to the UN agency, Baghdad was the worst affected region in the country, with 1,014 civilian casualties.

The organization noted that those results were an absolute minimum. In some cases, UNAMI was able to only partially verify the incidents in conflict areas.

Islamic State, a radical Sunni jihadist group, came to prominence in 2012 during the Syrian civil war, fighting government forces. The militants have since occupied large areas of neighboring Iraq, including its largest province Anbar, and proclaimed Islamic caliphate over controlled areas in both countries.

A US-led international coalition, formed in September 2014, has been carrying out airstrikes against IS targets in Iraq and Syria.