BAGHDAD, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The UN monthly civilian casualty data showed Thursday that violence across Iraq killed a total of 32 civilians in December 2018, the lowest since the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) began publishing the data six years ago.
A UNAMI statement said that another 32 civilians were also wounded in the terror attacks and armed conflicts in Iraq last month.
The figures showed that the capital Baghdad witnessed 20 civilian casualties (17 killed and three wounded), while 26 civilian casualties were caused in northern province of Nineveh (seven killed and 19 wounded), according to the statement.
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the UN special envoy to Iraq and the UNAMI chief, said "UNAMI views these figures as more than mere statistics. Every civilian death documented by UNAMI over the years represents a family grieving and struggling to come to terms with its loss."
"Each injury or maiming of a civilian represents immense individual and societal suffering," she added.
The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist Islamic State militants across the country in December 2017.
However, small groups and individuals of extremist militants regrouped in urban and rugged areas and have been carrying out attacks against the security forces and civilians despite operations from time to time to hunt them down.
Many blame the chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups in Iraq on the United States, which invaded the country in March 2003, under the pretext of seeking to destroy weapons of mass destruction in the country. But no such weapons were found.
