SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS IN STRONGEST TERMS YESTERDAY’S ATTACKS AGAINST CIVILIANS

IN IRAQ, SAYING ‘NOTHING CAN JUSTIFY SUCH INDISCRIMINATE VIOLENCE’

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The Secretary-General was shocked and saddened by the series of attacks that took place yesterday in northern Iraq in the villages of Qahtaniya, Al-Jazeera and Tal Uzair, which reportedly left at least 200 people dead and many more wounded.  He extends his deepest condolences to the families of those killed and his wishes for a full and speedy recovery to those wounded.  The Secretary-General reiterates in the strongest terms his condemnation of such attacks against civilian targets, including the one on a bridge in Taji, north of Baghdad, on the same day.  Nothing can justify such indiscriminate violence against innocent civilians.

The Secretary-General reiterates the urgent need for all Iraqi leaders, regardless of their political or religious affiliations, to work together to protect civilian lives and to dedicate themselves towards a meaningful dialogue aimed at ending the violence and achieving lasting national reconciliation.

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For information media • not an official record