Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- At least 34,452 Iraqi civilians were killed in violence in the country in 2006, the United Nations said in a report. A further 36,685 people were injured.

Civilian casualties increased in the second half of 2006. A total of 14,338 civilians were killed in the first six months of the year, the UN said in July. Kofi Annan, then secretary-general of the world body, last month said Iraq's sectarian violence was ``much worse'' than the 1975-1990 civil war in Lebanon, a conflict that is estimated to have killed 100,000 people.

``The root causes of the sectarian violence lie in revenge killings,'' the UN said today in an e-mailed statement on the report. Sectarian attacks are causing the migration of Iraq's professional class, the UN said, while the ``basic rights and freedoms'' of women and other minorities are ``profoundly affected by violence and action by insurgents, militias and criminal gangs.''

Attacks in Iraq today left almost 100 people dead, most of them in Baghdad, Agence France-Presse reported. A suicide bomber and a blast from a booby-trapped car killed 60 students and staff members at Baghdad's Mustansiriyah University, AFP said. Fifteen people were killed when two bombs went off in a central Baghdad market, a blast on a bus killed four others, and gunmen shot dead 10 people at a market in northeastern Baghdad, AFP reported.

President George W. Bush last week announced the deployment of an extra 21,500 U.S. service members to Baghdad and the restive western province of al-Anbar in an attempt to quell the violence. The Iraqi government will also increase army and police force numbers in conjunction with the U.S. effort.

`Comprehensive Reform'

Members of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority, as well as the ethnic Kurdish minority, were persecuted by Saddam Hussein's regime. Hussein, a Sunni Muslim, was executed Dec. 30.

``The ability of new security plans to effect real change in Iraq will depend on a comprehensive reform program that can strengthen the rule of law and deliver justice for all Iraqis,'' the UN said.

The U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi authorities are holding 30,842 detainees without charge, the UN also said in the report.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robin Stringer in London at rstringer@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 16, 2007 10:24 EST