19,000 Iraqis killed in conflict since 2014

Almost 19,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed and 36,000 wounded since 2014 during the ongoing conflict in the country, according to a new UN report.

Also 3.2 million people have been  displaced, including more than a million children of school age.

The Report has been compiled by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and covers the period from January 2014 until the end of October 2015.

The UN said an estimated 3,500 people, mainly women and children, are believed to be held as slaves in Iraq by so-called Islamic State militants who impose a harsh rule marked by gruesome public executions.

The report said the UN had information about the murder of child soldiers and had verified reports suggesting between 800 and 900 children in Mosul had been abducted for military and religious training.

"The violence suffered by civilians in Iraq remains staggering," said the report, issued in Geneva.

"The so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) continues to commit systematic and widespread violence and abuses of international human rights law and humanitarian law.

"These acts may, in some instances, amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide."