Official figures showed on Tuesday that the month of August witnessed the highest number of deaths from violence in Iraq for 13 months, with 456 people killed across the conflict-torn nation.
Statistics compiled by the defense, interior and health ministries showed that 393 civilians, 48 police and 15 soldiers were killed. The figures marked the highest monthly death toll since July 2008, when a total of 465 people were killed.

August saw two massive truck bombings at the ministries of finance and foreign affairs in Baghdad that killed at least 95 people. There were also 1,592 civilians, 129 police and 20 soldiers wounded in August, according to the figures.