More than 1,000 killed in 17 days in Iraq: UN

Tuesday, June 24, 2014 11:37 am

An image grab taken from a video uploaded on Youtube on June 12, 2014, allegedly shows Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants taking part in a military parade in the northern city of Mosul. Supporters of a powerful jihadist group are waging an online propaganda war in concert with its battles on the ground in Iraq, where Sunni militants have overrun swathes of the country. AFP PHOTO / HO / YOUTUBE

GENEVA (AFP) – More than 1,000 people were killed in Iraq between June 5 and 22 as Islamist militants swept through large swaths of northern and western Iraq, the UN said Tuesday.

At least 1,075 people were killed and 658 injured in the country during the 17-day period, Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the UN human rights office told reporters in Geneva, stressing that the numbers “should be viewed very much as a minimum.”