Violence has claimed the lives of 7818 civilians in Iraq in 2013, the UN says, in what is the highest annual death toll in years.
More than eight months of escalated violence has sparked fears that the country may be returning to the widespread bloodshed of 2004-2007 that saw tens of thousands killed each year.
Death tolls dipped following a US troop surge and an alliance of Sunni militias with US forces against al-Qaeda, but soaring sectarian distrust appears to be allowing the extremist network to rebuild.
Violence spiked in April after the Shi'ite-led government staged a deadly crackdown on a Sunni protest camp.
Iraq's al-Qaeda branch has fed on Sunni discontent and on the civil war in neighbouring Syria, in which mostly Sunni rebels fight a government whose base is a Shi'ite offshoot sect.
It has targeted civilians, particularly in Shi'ite areas of Baghdad, with waves of co-ordinated car bombings and other deadly attacks.
The UN figures gave a total of 759 people killed in December alone, including 661 civilians and 98 members of the security forces.
Another 1345 were wounded, the statement said.
The UN's monthly figures for both civilians and security forces over the year totalled 8868.
Mission chief Nickolay Mladenov called on Iraqis to take the necessary steps to stem violence.
"This is a sad and terrible record which confirms once again the urgent need for the Iraqi authorities to address the roots of violence to curb this infernal circle," Mladenov was quoted in the statement as saying.
The insurgency appears to have capitalised on a protest movement by Sunnis angered at what they consider second-class treatment, and the government's crackdown on it.
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