Rome, January 19 - Iraq witnessed a sharp increase in civilian deaths following the fall of large swathes of territory to the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group in the summer of 2014. Now despite a string of recent battlefield losses for ISIS, civilians in Iraq continue to die at a "staggering" rate, according to a new United Nations report. At least 18,802 civilians were killed and another 36,245 were wounded in Iraq between the start of 2014 and October 31 of last year, according to the U.N. report released Tuesday. In just one six-month period between May and October last year, more than 10,000 civilians were killed.