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FACTBOX: Civilian and military casualties in Iraq
(Reuters) - Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in sectarian violence in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Here are some details on the casualties.
* IRAQI CIVILIANS:
-- The latest tolls from the widely cited human-rights group Iraq Body Count (IBC) show that up to some 90,250 civilians have been killed since 2003 through the Web site's own monitoring of media and official reports.
-- According to IBC, the most violent 12-month period in Iraq's recent history extended from July 2006 to June 2007, with 29,625 to 31,852 civilian deaths recorded.
-- However with two exceptions (May and July 2007), the 2007 civilian death toll in Baghdad fell steadily month on month, according to Iraq Body Count. By December 2007 this had fallen to 246, about a seventh of the starting January total of 1,683.
-- In contrast, the monthly toll outside Baghdad increased substantially between January (1,112) and August (1,604), before a steep drop to around 700 per month and below for September through December, its figures show.
-- Despite a sharp rise, the figure of 633 killed in February 2008 was still dramatically lower than the 1,645 civilians who died violently in February 2007.
-- Despite the decline in the latter part of 2007, Iraq's own figures showed that more civilians died overall in 2007 (16,232) than did in 2006 (12,360).
-- However according to IBC, up to 27,519 civilians were killed in 2006 and up to 24,519 killed in 2007.
* U.S. MILITARY:
-- U.S. military deaths have reached 4,025 since the invasion in 2003. According to icasualties.org, an independent Web site that tracks military deaths, there was a steady decline in the second half of 2007. Nevertheless 2007 was the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Iraq with 901 killed, underscoring a new counter-insurgency strategy of moving troops off large, relatively safe bases and into small neighborhood garrisons.
Sources: Reuters/ www.icasualties.org *
/www.iraqbodycount.net **
NOTES:
* = www.icasualties.org uses official information from Centcom or the Department of Defense. The U.S-led military coalition toll includes casualties from Iraq and the surrounding area where troops are stationed.
** = www.iraqbodycount.net (IBC), run by academics and peace activists, based on reports from media sources. The IBC says on its Web site the figure underestimates the true number of casualties.
(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)
