More than 34,000 civilians were killed in Iraq in 2006, according to United Nations figures released today which are nearly three times higher than the number reported dead by the Iraqi Government.

The news comes on a day bloody even by Iraqi standards, with reports of 90 deaths in car bomb attacks across Baghdad and 10 deaths in a drive-by shooting. Up to 65 people, most female students, were killed in the largest bomb attack at the entrance to a university.

Gianni Magazzeni, the chief of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq in Baghdad, said that 34,452 civilians were killed and 36,685 were wounded in the past year. Iraqi government figures in early January put last year’s civilian death toll at 12,357.

The Iraqi Health Ministry has not yet commented on the figures, but the Government has disputed previous statistics released by the UN as "inaccurate and exaggerated."

Mr Magazzeni said 6,376 civilians met violent deaths in November and December and of those 4,731 were in Baghdad, mostly as a result of gunshot wounds.

"During 2006, 34,452 civilians have been violently killed," he said."The focus of this report is actually on the need for the government to increase its action with respect to the rule of law.

"Law enforcement agencies do not provide effective protection to the population of Iraq," he said, adding that "militias act in collusion with or have infiltrated" the security forces.

"Without significant progress in the rule of law sectarian violence will continue indefinitely and eventually spiral out of control," he warned.

When asked about the difference between Iraqi government figures and those collated by the UN, Mr Magazzeni said the UN figures were compiled from information obtained through the Iraqi Health Ministry, hospitals across the country and the Medico-Legal Institute in Baghdad.

There was a slight decrease from the previous two-month period, he said, during which UNAMI recorded a total of 7,047 civilians killed.

The developments came a day after increased tensions in the region prompted by the Iraqi government's hanging of two of Saddam Hussein’s close aides and as the Government is preparing to launch a security plan backed by US reinforcements and billed as a "last chance" for Iraq.

Today's car bomb attack on the entrance to an historic Baghdad university was devastating, with up to 65 killed and 110 wounded. Al-Mustansirya University confirmed that the majority of those killed in the blast were female students waiting for family members to pick them up.

Earlier, at least 15 people were killed and 74 wounded after back-to-back explosions struck a used motorcycle marketplace in central Baghdad.

The first bomb was attached to a motorcycle in the market. As people gathered to see what had happened, a suicide car bomber drove into the crowd and blew up his vehicle.

Last week President Bush announced plans to send at least 20,000 more troops to Iraq in an attempt to bring security to the streets.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador, said yesterday that the plan was a "defining moment" for Iraq and senior Shia Muslim politicians have called it a "last chance" to avert civil war.

The UN report also said that 30,842 people were detained in the country as of December 31, including 14,534 in detention facilities run by US led multinational forces.

The report said the Interior Ministry revealed on December 24 that 12,000 police officers had been killed since the war started in 2003.

Much of the violence has been blamed on Shia militias, particularly the Mahdi Army militia that is loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical cleric.

"The root causes of the sectarian violence lie in revenge killings and lack of accountability for past crimes as well as in the growing sense of impunity for on-going human rights violations," the agency said, calling on the Iraqi Government to step up efforts to restore law and order.

The report also painted a grim picture of Iraqi society, stating that at least 470,094 people have been forcibly internally displaced since the bombing in Samarra, and Baghdad alone has 38,766 displaced people.

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