The United Nations says more than 1,700 people have been killed in Iraq during violence in July as the country grapples with a crisis caused by ISIL Takfiri terrorists.
The UN said on Friday that at least 1,737 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the crisis-hit country last month.
The death figure includes 551 members of Iraqi security forces and 1,186 civilians.
"I am concerned about the rising number of casualties in Iraq, particularly among the civilian population. Children and women are most vulnerable," said Nickolay Mladenov, the UN envoy to Iraq, on Friday.
The July figure brings the total death toll of the year to at least 6,700.
Earlier in the day, at least 17 Iraqi soldiers were killed in clashes with militants in a town south of the capital Baghdad.
"Seventeen soldiers were killed and three wounded during clashes with insurgents in Jurf al-Sakhar that lasted two hours this morning," said an Iraqi army lieutenant.
At least 2,400 deaths were recorded in June, when Takfiris launched a massive blitz capturing parts of the country.
The ISIL Takfiri militants took control of Mosul, in a lightning advance on June 10, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of Baghdad.
More than a million people have been displaced in Iraq so far this year, according to the UN.
The ISIL has vowed to continue its raid towards Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said that the country’s security forces would confront the terrorists, calling the seizure of Mosul a “conspiracy".
Soldiers of the Iraqi army have been engaged in heavy fighting with the militants on different fronts and have so far been able to push back militants in several areas.
Maliki has said Saudi Arabia and Qatar are responsible for the security crisis and growing terrorism in his country, denouncing the Al Saud regime as a major supporter of global terrorism.
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