BAGHDAD - April was Iraq’s bloodiest month for almost five years, with 712 people killed in bomb attacks and other violence, the United Nations Iraq mission said on Thursday.

Tensions are at their highest since US troops pulled out in December 2011.

The number of attacks increased sharply after security forces raided a protest camp near Kirkuk last week, triggering clashes that quickly spread to other areas including the western province of Anbar, which borders Syria and Jordan.

Wounded Iraqi men rest at a hospital in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil on 25 April 2013 after they were injured during violent clashes between security forces and protesters in Hawijah. PHOTO: AFP

“The month of April was the deadliest since June 2008. A total of 712 people were killed and another 1,633 were wounded in acts of terrorism and acts of violence,” a UN statement read.

The number of civilians killed last month was 434 while the toll of security forces per     nel was 278.

Iraqi authorities published a monthly death toll for April on Wednesday which was much lower than the UN figure. The Interior Ministry said 245 people, including 84 members of the security forces, were killed.

Iraqi authorities often report lower estimates for the number of victims of attacks for unclear reasons but April’s toll is still the highest since the beginning of the year.

Violence is still well below its height in 2006-07, but al-Qaeda’s Iraqi affiliate and other insurgents are launching attacks on a daily basis to undermine the power of the government and provoke wider confrontation.

Iraqi politics are deeply divided along sectarian lines, with Maliki’s Shia-led government mired in crisis over how to share power among Shias, the largest group, Sunnis and ethnic Kurds who run their own autonomous region in the north.  

   — Reuters