The United Nations said on Saturday that a total of 703 Iraqis were killed by violence in February, excluding deaths of insurgents and those from an embattled western province. The figures issued by the U.N.'s mission to Iraq is close to that of January's toll of 733 and shows that a surge of violence, that began 10 months ago with a government crackdown on a protest camp, is not receding. A total of 564 civilians and 139 members of the security forces were killed. UNAMI added that 1,381 more Iraqis, including 1,179 civilians, were wounded. -- SPA 15:24 LOCAL TIME 12:24 GMT تغريد