34,000 Iraqi civilians killed in 2006, U.N. reports

Story Highlights

• U.N. report says more than 34,000 civilians "violently killed" in Iraq in 2006
• Death toll for November-December slightly lower than previous two months
• No one, including children, spared from cycle of violence, report says
• Almost half a million Iraqis have been "forcibly internally displaced"

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- More than 34,000 civilians were "violently killed" across Iraq last year, with an average of 94 killed every day, according to a new United Nations report.

The bimonthly Human Rights Report of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, covering November and December, tallied the casualties of nearly a year of relentless sectarian strife, which skyrocketed after the bombing of a Shiite mosque in Samarra on February 22.

The grim figures came on a day when shootings and bombs, including a "massive" car bomb near a university, killed dozens of Iraqis in Baghdad. (Full story)

"According to information made available to UNAMI, 6,376 civilians were violently killed in November and December 2006, with no less than 4,731 in Baghdad, most of them as a result of gunshot wounds," the report said.

"Compared to the number killed in September and October, there has been a slight reduction. It is evident however that violence has not been contained but has continued to claim a very high number of innocent victims. During 2006, a total of 34,452 civilians have been violently killed and 36,685 wounded." (Watch how civilians killed during U.S. actions are compensated )

The death toll in the U.N. report is nearly three times the number reported by the Iraqi government, according to The Associated Press.

The Iraqi Health Ministry did not comment on the report, which was based on information released by the Iraqi government and hospitals, AP reported.

The government has disputed previous figures released by the United Nations as "inaccurate and exaggerated," AP said.

The report said the "situation is particularly grave in Baghdad" and that "sectarian violence, especially in Baghdad, is singled out as a major cause for an ever-growing trend in displacement and migration of all Iraqis, as well as the targeting of various professional groups, including educators, medical professionals, journalists, judges and lawyers, religious and political leaders."

The report said at least 470,094 people have been forcibly internally displaced since the Samarra bombing, with 38,766 in Baghdad alone.

"Action by terrorist groups and sectarian killings which are fueled by the insurgency, continue to be the main source of violence in the country," the report said.

Gathering places such as mosques, marketplaces, day laborer pick-up areas and police recruitment center are "routine" targets. Shot and tortured bodies are found dumped across the capital every day.

"No religious and ethnic groups, including women and children, have been spared from the widespread cycle of violence which creates panic and disrupts the daily life of many Iraqi families, prompting parents to stop sending their children to school and severely limiting normal movement around the capital and outside. The violence is equally disruptive of the political process and it prevents progress in the functioning of new Iraqi state institutions," the report said.

The U.N. report said "reports suggest" significant population movements in the city "as the neighborhoods become increasingly divided among Sunni and Shia armed groups, and are consequently grouped together based on their sect and ethnicity."

Insurgents, including foreign terrorist groups, "remain particularly active" in several areas -- such as Baghdad and Anbar province and in parts of Babil, Diyala, Nineveh and Salaheddin provinces, the report said.

Certain areas in Iraq's south and north and in the northern Kurdish region are "relatively safer and therefore record better human rights conditions," the report said.

"Nevertheless, minority and women rights, as well as administrative corruption are of concern in Kurdistan and in the rest of the country. The rise in religious extremism continues to affect education, women's and minority rights" in southern and central Iraq, the report said.

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