Iraq death toll drops

2008-07-01 10:19

Baghdad - The number of Iraqis killed in political violence in June fell to 509, a near 10% fall compared to the previous month, security officials said on Monday.

Insurgent and militia attacks killed at least 448 civilians, 40 policemen and 21 soldiers, the officials said quoting figures collected from the interior, health and defence ministries.

In May, violence claimed the lives of 504 civilians, 32 policemen and 27 soldiers.

By contrast US military losses rose to 29 in June compared with 19 in May, which marked the military's lowest monthly death toll since the March 2003 invasion, according to the independent website www.icasualties.org.

Iraq has seen a downward trend in violence since the middle of last year, but bloodshed spiked in March and April on the back of fierce clashes between Shi'ite militiamen and coalition security forces.

At least 1 073 Iraqis were killed across the country in April, most of them in the fighting with militiamen which began in the southern port city of Basra and spread to several Shi'ite regions of the country.

The April toll had reversed a gradually declining trend of violence seen from June last year when the extra 30 000 troops dispatched by US President George W Bush were fully deployed in Baghdad and other violent areas of Iraq.

US commanders say the reduction in violence was the result of the deployment of the extra troops, the formation of anti-Qaeda fronts among Sunni former rebels and the suspension of the activities of the Mahdi Army militia by its leader Moqtada al-Sadr.

- AFP