Nearly 20,000 people have been kidnapped in Iraq since the beginning of this year alone, according to a report Wednesday on violence in a country scarred by three years of conflict.
The survey, which underscores the massive social upheaval caused by rebel activity and increasing sectarian conflict, does not give the number of people killed. However, it says 15,462 people have been wounded.
The 19,548 people kidnapped includes 4,959 women and 2,350 children, according to the report prepared by a group of 125 non-governmental organisations and made public in the Shiite holy city of Karbala.
The high-profile seizure of foreigners in Iraq has numbered only a few hundred since the practice began two years ago and is usually aimed at scoring progaganda points against the US-led occupation.
The report also said an estimated 6,877 families have been displaced from their homes. The survey says the true number of displacements is difficult to establish, and the authorities have put the figure as high as 10,000.
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