UN figures suggest at least 93,000 killed in Syria

At least 93,000 people have been killed in Syria according to the latest United Nations figures released today.

These figures show that on an average 5,000 people have been killed every month since last July, with the rural Damascus and Aleppo regions recording the highest death toll since November.

The latest numbers are based on data from eight sources, including the Syrian government and the British based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The analysis was conducted using a combined list of 263,055 reported killings, identified by the name of the victim, the date and location of death.

The United Nations (UN) has reported that over 80% of those killed were men, and also documented the deaths of over 1,700 children under the age of 10.

Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said in his statement: “The extremely high rate of killings, month after month, reflects the drastically deteriorating pattern of the conflict over the past year.”

The previous UN figure, released in mid-May, was that 80,000 had been killed in the conflict which began with protests against president Bashar al-Assad in March 2011 and in a few months had turned into an armed rebellion.

Aastha Gill