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August 23, 2014

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Syria civil war death toll passes 191,000

Source: AP | August 23, 2014, Saturday | Print Edition

THE death toll from three years of Syria’s civil war has risen to more than 191,000, the United Nations said yesterday.

The figure, covering the period from March 2011 to April 2014, is the first issued by the UN’s human rights office since July 2013, when it documented more than 100,000 killed.

The death toll is a reflection of the brutality of Syria’s conflict, which has transformed into a complex, multi-layered war where various factions fight against each other.

It also reflects the surge in deadly attacks by the al-Qaida-breakaway Islamic State group targeting rival militant groups, mainstream Western-backed Syrian rebels and Kurdish militiamen in northern Syria as it seeks to eliminate opponents and consolidate its hold on territory and resources.

Navi Pillay, the UN’s top human rights official, said the new figures are higher because they include additional killings from earlier periods, as well as deaths since the last report.

The exact figure is 191,369, Pillay said.

“As the report says, it is probably an underestimate of the real number killed,” she said.

Men comprised 85 percent of the victims, women more than 9 percent, while the sex was unknown in the remaining cases. The records show at least 8,800 child victims, though the age of most victims is unknown.

In January, Pillay’s office said it had stopped updating the death toll, blaming a lack of access in Syria and its inability to verify source material.

It is unclear why it has released new figures now.

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