WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- The level of violence in Iraq more than 10 years after the U.S.-led invasion is on the minds of the U.S. government, a spokeswoman said.
The U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq said last week more than 975 people were killed and another 2,100 were injured in acts of violence or terrorism in September.
Suicide bombings across Iraq last weekend left more than two dozen people dead and more than 140 others injured. Two bombings in northern Nineveh province accounted for more than half the casualties.
Violence in Iraq has increased steadily since U.S. combat forces left the country in 2011. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said national security in Iraq "very much remains on our radar screen."
She cautioned during her regular press conference Wednesday that violence in Iraq was different from the sectarian conflict that pushed the country to the brink of civil war five years ago.
"It really is violence perpetrated by extremists, and much of it is a outflow of the situation in Syria," she said.
Baghdad province was the worst hit by September violence, accounting for nearly half the total civilians killed and injured last month. Al-Qaida is said to be tied to some of the attacks.
