Nearly 2,000 Iraqis killed or injured in October

Nearly 2,000 Iraqis were killed or injured in October, according to casualty figures released by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq.

A total of 714 were killed and 1,269 were injured in acts of terrorism, violence or armed conflict.

Of those killed, 559 were civilians, including civilian police, and 1,067 civilians were injured, including 43 civilian police.

These figures also include 155 members of the Iraqi security forces who were killed and 202 who were injured.

"Once again, these figures illustrate the suffering of the people of Iraq from terrorism and conflict," Jan Kubis, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq, said in a statement.

"I am hopeful that the suffering of the Iraqi people will come to an end with the support of the international community," he added.

The worst affected governorate was Baghdad with 1,150 civilian causualties - 292 killed, 852 injured - followed by Diyala, with 92 killed and 141 injured. There were 86 killed in Nineveh province, 28 dead and 40 injured in Salahadin province, and Kirkuk saw 39 killed and seven injured.

Due to the ongoing conflict, the UN has had difficulties getting figures from the Anbar area, and could only partially verify some incidents. Therefore, these figures are a minimum estimate.

On Wednesday, Kubis told the UN Security Council that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi faced "immense challenges" in trying to reconcile and broaden the political process in his country.