Iraq: 2 500 killed, 85 000 displaced in two months

Acts of violence have killed nearly 2 500 people and forced more than 85 000 to flee their homes in Iraq, the United Nations assistance mission in Iraq said on Tuesday in a March-April report on the human rights situation.

The fatality count was comprised of death certificates issued by the Baghdad morgue, the report said.

"The medico-legal institute in Baghdad issued 1 294 death certificates in March and 1 155 in April," the majority of which had been deaths caused by gunshot wounds, it said.

"As a result of the pervasive violence, Iraqis continue to leave their areas of residence, either voluntarily or as a result of violence or threats by insurgents, militias and other armed groups," it said.

Citing the International Organisation of Migration, the report stated that 14 302 families had been displaced since the February 22 destruction of a Shi'ite shrine in Samarra that precipitated a rash of sectarian killing.

The report further noted that the destinations of the displaced families break along sectarian lines, with Sunnis from the south heading to Anbar, Salaheddin and Diyala provinces, and Shi'ites heading from Baghdad to the southern provinces.

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40 Killed in Iraq, 11 Near Shiite Mosque