More than 31,000 Iraqis, including some 21,000 children aged under five, died during the past three months from diseases and malnutrition caused by UN sanctions, Iraq's health ministry said Saturday.
In a statement carried by the official INA news agency, the ministry said "31,079 people, including more than 21,000 children aged under five, died from September through November from various diseases caused by malnutrition and shortages of medicines."
Official statistics put at 1.6 million the number of Iraqis who have died as a result of the sanctions, in force since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
An "oil-for-food" program allows Iraq to sell oil under United Nations supervision to buy essential goods - (AFP)
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