BAGHDAD – The death toll from violence in Iraq fell in February from the previous month, but was still one of the worst in years, figures released on Saturday showed.



Iraq is suffering a year-long surge in violence to levels not seen since 2008, when it was emerging from a brutal period of sectarian killings in which tens of thousands died.



The spike has been driven by widespread discontent among Iraq’s minority Sunni Arab community, which complains of being marginalised and unfairly targeted with heavy-handed security measures, and by the civil war in neighbouring Syria.



February attacks and clashes killed at least 744 people, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources -- an average of more than 26 per day.



The toll was down from 991 in January, but more than three times that of February 2013.



Meanwhile, government figures put the toll at 790 civilians and security personnel killed, while the United Nations said 703 people died in violence. Both figures declined from the previous month.



However, the UN excluded violence in the mostly-Sunni province of Anbar where government forces have clashed with militants who still hold one city. “The political, social and religious leaders of Iraq have an urgent responsibility to come together in the face of the terrorist threat,” UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov said in a statement Saturday.



Much of the violence was concentrated in six central and northern provinces that have either religiously mixed or Sunni-majority populations -- Baghdad, Anbar, Salaheddin, Diyala, Kirkuk and Nineveh. Efforts by authorities to curb the rampant bloodshed, which have largely been comprised of military operations and concessions that fall short of Sunni demands, have failed to bring the violence under control. — AFP