Iraq Has Deadliest Month in 5 Years: UN

It records more than 700 deaths in April, most of them civilians
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 2, 2013 12:55 PM CDT
Iraq Has Deadliest Month in 5 Years: UN
Civilians and security forces gather at the scene of a car bomb attack in the southern Shiite city of Karbala on April 29.   (AP Photo)

The United Nations mission to Iraq says more people were killed in violent attacks across the country in April than in any other month since June 2008. The UN recorded 712 people killed last month, including 117 members of the Iraqi security forces, along with 1,633 people injured. The capital district of Baghdad was the worst affected. The figures released today underscore concerns that security is quickly deteriorating in Iraq, where violence spiked in the last part of April.

Casualty tolls in Iraq can vary considerably, with official reports at times differing from accounts from local police and hospital officials. The Associated Press recorded more than 400 killed last month. Iraq witnessed its deadliest bout of violence between 2006 and 2007, when the country was on the brink of civil war. (More Iraq stories.)

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