Iraqi civilian deaths drop sharply in January

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The civilian death toll in Iraq dropped by more than half in January to 135 people compared with the previous month, defying predictions of a rise in violence before an upcoming election, officials said on Monday.

Civilian deaths in Iraq have been gradually falling over the last two years as the sectarian warfare unleashed between once dominant Sunni Muslims and majority Shi'ites by the 2003 U.S. invasion began to subside.

In December, 306 people were killed.

Suspected Sunni Islamist insurgents such as al Qaeda and adherents of Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party are still capable of staging devastating attacks.

On December 8 they launched a series of suicide car bomb attacks in Baghdad in which more than 100 people died. The next major assault took place on January 25, when three Baghdad hotels were bombed. More than 30 people died.

U.S. military officials say the aim of the attacks is to undermine Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government in the run-up to the March 7 parliamentary election.

The number of U.S. military personnel killed in combat in January remained low at two people, according to the website www.icasualties.org.

At least 100,000 Iraqis have been killed in the more than 6-1/2 years since the invasion, according to www.iraqbodycount.org. Some groups put the toll much higher.

(Reporting by Khalid al-Ansary; Editing by Jack Kimball and Angus MacSwan)