The conflict in Iraq killed nearly 19,000 Iraqi civilians, wounded 36,000 and forced 3.2 million to flee their homes between January 2014 and October 2015, according to a new report from the United Nations.
The ongoing war with the Islamic State group left at least 18,802 civilians dead and 36,245 more wounded in just 22 months, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said. About half of the deaths were recorded in the capital of Baghdad.
"The violence suffered by civilians in Iraq remains staggering. The so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) continues to commit systematic and widespread violence and abuses of international human rights law and humanitarian law. These acts may, in some instances, amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide," the report states.
The report was based largely on direct interviews with victims, survivors, witnesses of abuses and internally displaced people. The U.N. emphasized that the estimates are a minimum and could possibly be much higher, particularly in the western province of Anbar, much of which is under the control of the Islamic State, according to BBC.
"Even the obscene casualty figures fail to accurately reflect exactly how terribly civilians are suffering in Iraq," said U.N. Human Rights Chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein. "The figures capture those who were killed or maimed by overt violence, but countless others have died from the lack of access to basic food, water or medical care."
The report also documented abuses committed by Iraqi government forces and allied groups, however, most of the violence was attributed to the Islamic State terrorist group, which commandeered vast swaths of territory in Iraq in the summer of 2014, notes CNN.
"During the reporting period, ISIL killed and abducted scores of civilians, often in a targeted manner. Victims include those perceived to be opposed to ISIL ideology and rule; persons affiliated with the Government, such as former Iraqi security forces, police officers, former public officials and electoral workers; professionals, such as doctors and lawyers; journalists; and tribal and religious leaders," the U.N. said.
Improvised explosive devices, including those worn by suicide bombers and carried in vehicles, were the deadliest tactic that the Islamic State group employed against civilians. Other methods included shootings, beheadings, burning captives alive and throwing people off buildings.
The U.N. also accused the Islamic State group of forcing 3,500 people into slavery, mainly women and children from the Yazidi religious minority. Further, the U.N. said it has information that the terrorist group abducted between 800 and 900 children in Mosul "for religious education and military training," according to the Guardian.
