Violence in Iraq has killed more than 5,500 civilians over the first six months of this year, the UN says.

The time period corresponds with an offensive by the Islamic State extremist group and other Sunni militants which has overrun a huge chunk of northern and western Iraq.

A report from the UN mission to Iraq said that at least 5,576 civilians had been killed and 11,665 wounded in Iraq since the beginning of the year.

In all of 2013, the UN reported just over 7,800 civilians killed, the highest annual death toll in years.

The new report also documents human rights violations by the Islamic State group as well as Iraqi security forces and associated groups.

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