The ongoing conflict in Iraq has killed almost 15,000 civilians and wounded 30,000 more during a 16-month period ending on April 30, according to a U.N. report released Monday.
From Jan. 1, 2014 through the end of April 2015, the U.N. recorded at least 14,947 casualties and 29,189 injuries as a result of the conflict. Baghdad was the worst affected province, followed by Anbar and Diyala.
Over the 16-month period, the U.N. found that more than 2.8 million people fled their homes and still remain displaced in the country, including some 1.3 million children.
Most of the report focuses on the Islamic State group, but it did not break down who was responsible for the casualties, according to The Associated Press. In many cases, the U.N. said it has been impossible to identify those responsible for deaths and human rights violations.
The U.N. continues to receive reports of the Islamic State group "committing violations of international humanitarian law and growing human rights violations and abuses, with an apparent systematic and widespread character," the report from the U.N. assistance mission in Iraq and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
"In some instances, these may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide," the report said.
The extremist group currently occupies vast swaths of land in northern and western Iraq, as well as in Syria. Last year, the group captures Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, and still holds large portions of the country even as Iraqi and U.S. forces have made progress in the past few months.
The U.N. says it also continues to receive reports of human rights violations perpetrated by Iraqi Security Forces and their allies, including international military forces. These violations included unlawful killings, air strikes, shelling, abductions of civilians and destruction of property.
The report also said that as many as 3,500 men, women and children, mostly from the Yezidi community, are still being held hostage by the Islamic State group, "where they are subjected to physical, sexual and other forms of violence and degrading treatment on a daily basis."
On Sunday, a U.S.-led coalition stepped up its air strikes against the Islamic State group around the city of Ramadi, and on Monday, Iraqi troops and Shi'ite Muslim forces launched a major offensive against the group in Anbar province, reported Reuters.
