Violence killed around 1,000 people in July, government and United Nations figures show, making it Iraq's deadliest month since 2008 when the country was emerging from bloody sectarian conflict. Bombings ripped through crowded cafes and mowed down worshippers at mosques last month. Militants also carried out brazen assaults on two prisons. "The impact of violence on civilians remains disturbingly high," UN envoy Gyorgy Busztin said in a statement. "We haven't seen such numbers in more than five years, when the blind rage of sectarian strife that inflicted such deep wounds upon this country was finally abating," he added. Iraq was racked by a bloody Sunni-Shia sectarian conflict that peaked in 2006-2007, when tens of thousands were killed because of their religious affiliation or forced to abandon their homes under threat of death. "I reiterate my urgent call on Iraq's political leaders to take immediate and decisive action to stop the senseless bloodshed, and to prevent these dark days from returning," Busztin said.
