UN says nearly 93,000 killed in Syria

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations’ human rights office said Thursday that almost 93,000 people have been confirmed killed in the Syrian conflict, but the real number is likely to be far higher.

The analysis found 92,901 documented killings in Syria between March 2011 and the end of April 2013, said the UN’s top human rights official, Navi Pillay, but she acknowledged that it was impossible to put an exact figure on the death toll from Syria’s upward spiral of violence.

The last such analysis, in January, had documented nearly 60,000 killings through the end of November. The latest figures add more killings to that time period, plus some 27,000 more between December and April.

“The constant flow of killings continues at shockingly high levels, with more than 5,000 killings documented every month since last July,” said Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights. “This is most likely a minimum casualty figure. The true number of those killed is potentially much higher.”

Among the victims were at least 6,561 children, including 1,729 children younger than 10.

“There are also well-documented cases of individual children being tortured and executed, and entire families including babies being massacred — which, along with this devastatingly high death toll, is a terrible reminder of just how vicious this conflict has become,” Pillay said.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.