VIOLENCE killed more than 5,500 civilians in the first six months of the year, the UN mission to Iraq reported today.

Its new report documents the massive humanitarian toll of the ongoing Sunni militant offensive across northern and north-western Iraq.

The UN mission revealed that at least 5,576 civilians had been killed and another 11,665 wounded between January 1 and the end of June.

A further 1.2 million people had been driven from their homes by the violence.

It was in January that Islamic State (Isis) extremists and other Sunni insurgents seized control of the city of Fallujah, as well as part of the nearby city of Ramadi in Anbar province, setting in train a political crisis as Iraqi army units fled without fighting.

The pace of civilian deaths over the first six months marked a sharp increase over the previous year when the UN reported just over 7,800 civilians killed — the highest annual death toll in years.

Fighting “has inflicted untold hardship and suffering on the civilian population with large-scale killings, injuries, destruction and damage of livelihoods and property,” the UN said.

The report also documents human rights abuses by both sides of the conflict that may constitute crimes against humanity or war crimes.

Isis and its allies have committed “systematic and egregious violations” against civilians, including killings, sexual violence, kidnappings, destruction of property and attacks on places of religious worship.

Violations by government forces have included summary executions of prisoners and detainees.