MOSCOW, November 1 (RIA Novosti) — At least 1,273 people were killed in Iraq just in October after terrorism and violence had swept through the country, Special Representative of the Secretary General for Iraq Nickolay Mladenov confirmed on his Twitter account.
"At least 1273 people killed and 2010 injured by terrorism and violence in October in Iraq," Mladenov wrote.
Mladenov, who is also Head of UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) and Bulgaria's Defense Minister, said he is "outraged at the kidnappings and murders of people in Iraq, perpetrated by ISIL [the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria], whose bodies were discovered in mass graves."
The IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, the group extended its attacks to northern and western Iraq, declaring a caliphate on the territories over which it had control.
To impede the military advancement of the group, the United States launched airstrikes against the jihadists' positions in Iraq and Syria in mid-September, with some other countries such as France, the United Kingdom and Australia joining later to form an airstrike coalition to crack down on the militants.
