Deadliest Month in 5 Years: Bloodshed Soars in War-Ravaged Iraq

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More than 1,000 Iraqis—most of them civilians—were killed by political and sectarian violence in Iraq during July, marking the deadliest month in this country since 2008, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq announced on Thursday.

The spike in violence follows the so-called US withdrawal after a decade of war and occupation in Iraq—marked by staggering civilian death rates, high-profile atrocities, and decimation of social infrastructure.

1,057 Iraqis were killed and 2,326 injured by deadly waves of bombings and shootings, with Baghdad the hardest hit, according to the UNAMI report.

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The five year spike follows an increasingly deadly year, as Sunni and Shi’ite sectarian and political conflict escalates.

“The impact of violence on civilians remains disturbingly high, with at least 4,137 civilians killed and 9,865 injured since the beginning of 2013,” U.N. envoy for Iraq George Busztin said Thursday.

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