Report attempts to quantify Iraqi civilian deaths

Iraq's government has recorded 87,215 of its citizens killed since 2005 in violence ranging from catastrophic bombings to execution-style slayings, according to government statistics that break open one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war.

By Kim Gamel

Farhan Hamza visits his father's grave in Najaf, south of Baghdad. Hamza's father was a civilian killed in violence in Iraq.

 

BAGHDAD — Iraq's government has recorded 87,215 of its citizens killed since 2005 in violence ranging from catastrophic bombings to execution-style slayings, according to government statistics that break open one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war.

Combined with tallies based on hospital sources and media reports since the beginning of the war and an in-depth review of available evidence by The Associated Press, the figures show that more than 110,600 Iraqis have died in violence since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

The number is a minimum count of violent deaths. The official who provided the data to The AP, on condition of anonymity because of its sensitivity, estimated the actual number of deaths at 10 to 20 percent higher because of thousands who are missing and civilians who were buried in the chaos of war without official records.

The Health Ministry has tallied death certificates since 2005, and the United Nations began using them late that year — along with hospital and morgue figures — to release casualty counts publicly. But the Iraqi numbers disappeared by early 2007, when sectarian violence was putting political pressure on the U.S. and Iraqi governments. The United Nations "repeatedly asked for that cooperation" to resume but never received a response, U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq said Thursday.

The data measure only violent deaths — people killed in the shootings, bombings, mortar attacks and beheadings that have ravaged Iraq. Indirect factors such as damage to infrastructure, health care and stress that caused thousands more to die are excluded.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/iraq/2009113518_iraqdeath24.html