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20,000 kidnapped in Iraq since January: report

KARBALA: Nearly 20,000 people have been kidnapped in Iraq since the beginning of this year alone, according to a report released on Wednesday.

The survey, which underscores the massive social upheaval caused by rebel activity and increasing sectarian conflict, does not give the number of people killed. However, it says that 15,462 people have been wounded.

The 19,548 people kidnapped includes 4,959 women and 2,350 children, according to the report prepared by a group of 125 non-governmental organisations and made public in the Shia holy city of Karbala.

The high-profile seizure of foreigners in Iraq has numbered only a few hundred since the practice began two years ago and is usually aimed at scoring propaganda points against the US-led occupation.

In contrast, the thousands of Iraqis being kidnapped are primarily the victims of political rivalry and of common criminal gangs seeking ransom.

The report also finds that an estimated 6,877 families have been displaced from their homes, acknowledging that the true number of displacements is difficult to establish and that local authorities believe the figure could be as high as 10,000.

On the general violence sweeping Iraq, the report says that 80 percent of incidents are politically motivated.

“The violence is generated by armed militias linked to political parties and is fed by the [Iraq’s] porous borders and by the delay in forming a new government” following elections in December, it says.

Parallel to that has been an explosion of tit-for-tat killings between Sunnis and Shias since the bombing of a major Shia shrine in February. Those tensions are also seen as being the cause of many displacements, brought about by intimidation.

Although the Iraqi government does not publish regular figures on the number of military and security forces killed, icasualties.org says that a total of 3,586 better-armed and better-protected US and other coalition forces have been killed since the March 20, 2003 invasion.

Independent on-line website iraqbodycount.org has estimated that between 34,511 and 38,660 civilians have lost their lives since the invasion.

That count, taken from media reports, includes civilian deaths caused by coalition military action and by military or paramilitary responses to the coalition presence, such as insurgent attacks. AFP

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