Iraq violence killed at least 1,420 in August: UN

BAGHDAD - Reuters

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, who fled violence in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, make tea for breakfast at the Bajed Kadal refugee camp, southwest of Dohuk province, Aug. 23. REUTERS Photo / Youssef Boudlal

At least 1,420 people were killed in Iraq in August, the United Nations said on Sept. 1, as sectarian violence raged in the centre and north of the country.

Another 1,370 Iraqis were wounded and 600,000 people forced to flee, the U.N. added, as Islamic State militants, who have grabbed large areas of territory since June, pushed into land controlled by Kurdish troops and targeted religious minorities.

"Thousands continue to be targeted and killed by ISIL (Islamic State) and associated armed groups simply on account of their ethnic or religious background ... The true cost of this human tragedy is staggering," said the U.N. representative in Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov."

The U.N. said the casualty figures could be far higher, but it could not get indepent verification of reports of hundreds of incidents in areas under Islamic State's control.

Violence killed 1,737 people, mostly civilians, in Iraq in July, and 2,400 in June, the U.N. data showed.

Both Islamist fighters and Iraqi government forces have committed atrocities in the three months of fighting, senior U.N. officials said in Geneva during an emergency debate on the conflict on Monday.