1,466 peshmerga killed in clashes with Daesh since 2014

By Idris Okuducu

ERBIL, Iraq

A total of 1,466 Kurdish peshmerga forces have been killed in clashes with members of the Daesh terrorist group since 2014, an official from northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) said Monday.

In a Facebook post, Jabbar Yawar, secretary-general of the KRG’s Ministry for Peshmerga Affairs, said that some 8,610 peshmerga troops had also been injured over the same period.

"And 62 peshmerga troops remain unaccounted for," he added.

Iraq has suffered a devastating security vacuum since mid-2014, when Daesh overran the northern city of Mosul and captured large swathes of territory in the country’s northern and western regions.

According to the UN, more than 3.4 million people have been internally displaced in Iraq -- more than half of them children -- while over 10 million people countrywide remain in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

*Anadolu Agency correspondent Mohamed Sabry contributed to this report