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U.N.: Iraq withholding figures on civilian deaths

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The United Nations is unable to determine how many Iraqi civilians have been killed so far this year because the Iraqi government won't share the information, a U.N. agency said in a Wednesday report.

An Iraqi government official denied that the information was withheld to cover up the number of civilian deaths, and the prime minister's office said the U.N. report "lacks accuracy."

Even without the numbers, the report delivers a grim message: Iraq is facing "immense security challenges in the face of growing violence and armed opposition to its authority and the rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis."

The report also contains a laundry list of human rights concerns. (Full report -- PDF)

In addition to the kidnappings and sectarian attacks that plague the country, other issues raised by the report are the targeting of ethnic and religious minorities by insurgent groups; collusion among the Iraqi military and militia groups; waves of Iraqis fleeing their homes to escape violence; the government's inability to prosecute suspects; and widespread attacks against journalists and academicians.

The quarterly human rights report, written by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, is considered the most reliable tally of civilians killed in the country, but Wednesday's report did not include the numbers for January, February and March.

Although it is lacking statistics, the report says anecdotal evidence indicates that assassinations and "large-scale indiscriminate killings" have kept the civilian death toll high, especially in and around Baghdad. (Watch patrol in 'no man's land' help dying woman )

Violence also abounds in Nineveh, Salaheddin and Diyala provinces, as well as in Babil, just south of the capital.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office slammed the report, saying in a terse statement that it has "major reservations" about the document.

The report "lacks accuracy in presenting data, credibility in a lot of its points and its presentation of the human rights situation in Iraq," the statement said.

The Iraqi government says it desires transparency and wants to cooperate with UNAMI, but much of the information in the report came from "unreliable, unofficial and unknown sources," according to the statement.

"The publishing of such an unbalanced report during the circumstances the country is going through puts UNAMI's credibility on the line and escalates the humanitarian situation in Iraq instead of resolving it," the government said.

UNAMI has seen its reports lambasted or ignored by the Iraqi government in the past, most recently in January when the agency reported that 34,452 civilians were killed and 36,685 were wounded in 2006.

The government initially told The Associated Press and Reuters it wouldn't comment on the report, and al-Maliki's office later told CNN the report used exaggerated figures.

In its Wednesday report, the U.N. says the Iraqi government provided no "substantive explanation or justification" for its decision to withhold information from the Ministry of Health and the Medico-Legal Institute, the capital's main morgue.

An Iraqi official, however, insisted it was an apolitical decision and the government is revamping how it collects and distributes the data.

UNAMI said in its report that al-Maliki's office has expressed displeasure with its previous reports.

After its January 16 report, "the prime minister's office told UNAMI that the mortality figures contained in the report were exaggerated, although they were in fact official figures compiled and provided by a government ministry," Wednesday's report said.

Other developments

Shiites in Baghdad gathered Wednesday to protest a wall surrounding the Sunni neighborhood of Adhamiya. The U.S. and Iraqi militaries say the wall is for protection, but radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr issued a statement calling the wall sectarian, racist and oppressive. He vowed to support all Iraqis -- Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians -- and called on them to unite against "the evil will of the occupier." (Watch why the wall is so controversial )

Four police officers were killed and 16 people were injured Wednesday when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt near a police station in Balad Ruz, a security official in Diyala province said. The bomber was trying to enter the station when guards stopped him at the gate, the official said. Six police officers were among the wounded. (Watch how Diyala province is becoming a major battleground )

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.

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