UN Casualties Figures for Iraq for the Month of January 2017

A total of 403 Iraqi civilians were killed and another 924 were injured in acts of terrorism, violence and armed conflict in Iraq in January 2017*, according to casualty figures recorded by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

The number of civilians killed in January (not including police) was 382, while the number injured (not including police) was 908.

Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate with 572 civilian casualties with 128 killed and 444 injured. Ninewa followed with 187 killed and 285 injured, and Salahadin had 30 killed and 45 injured.

According to information obtained by UNAMI from the Health Directorate in Anbar, the Governorate suffered a total of 143 civilian casualties (22 killed and 121 injured). Figures for Anbar are updated until 30 January, inclusive.

"The Daesh terrorists have focused their bombing attacks on markets and residential neighbourhoods. They have cowardly targeted civilians - women, children and the elderly who were going about their business or shopping", Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG) Ján Kubiš said.

"But Daesh's goal of breaking the will of the people has collapsed in the face of the Iraqi people's resilience, despite of the difficulties and hardship, and the steady advances of the Iraqi security forces in the operation to liberate Mosul from the terrorists", the SRSG said.

*CAVEATS: In general, UNAMI has been hindered in effectively verifying casualties in conflict areas. Figures for casualties from Anbar Governorate are provided by the Health Directorate and are noted in the January casualty report. Casualty reports obtained from the Anbar Health Directorate might not fully reflect the real number of casualties in those areas due to the increased volatility of the situation on the ground and the disruption of services. In some cases, UNAMI could only partially verify certain incidents. UNAMI has also received, without being able to verify, reports of large numbers of casualties along with unknown numbers of persons who have died from secondary effects of violence after having fled their homes due to exposure to the elements, lack of water, food, medicines and health care. Since the start of the military operations to retake Mosul and other areas in Ninewa, UNAMI has received several reports of incidents involving civilian casualties, which at times it has been unable to verify. For these reasons, the figures reported have to be considered as the absolute minimum.