/ 5 January 2006

More than 7 000 Iraqis killed in violence in 2005

More than 7 000 Iraqis, most of them civilians, were killed in violence in 2005, the first year that Iraqi officials have kept such records, an Interior Ministry official said on Wednesday.

The year 2005 saw 2 880 terrorist attacks target Iraqi security forces and civilians, Major Abdul Aziz al-Mousawi said. About 1 225 policemen and 475 soldiers were killed, along with 4 021 civilians and 1 709 insurgents, he said. Overall, 7 430 Iraqis were killed,

according to the figures.

It was impossible to confirm the accuracy of the numbers because many slayings in Iraq go unreported and there are no other official figures with which to compare them. The US military does not track civilian deaths.

But the numbers help give some clarity to just how high the death toll has been in a nation where civilians are frequently targeted by insurgents and have been caught up in attacks by US troops.

According to an Associated Press count, at least 4 942 Iraqis were killed in war-related violence from April 28, 2005, when the new government took office, through December 31. The number includes civilians, government officials and police and security forces, and is considered only a minimum based on AP reporting. In addition, nearly 1 000 Shi’ite pilgrims were killed on August 21 by a bridge stampede caused by someone shouting there was a suicide bomber in their midst.

Al-Mousawi oversees the Interior Ministry database that included the figures. The numbers are slightly less than those published by the group Iraq Coalition Casualties, which compiles media reports.

It said 5 712 Iraqi civilians and 2 593 Iraqi troops, or a total of 8 305, were killed in 2005. Those numbers were also incomplete but

did include the Shi’ite pilgrims.

In mid-December, United States President George Bush estimated that

30 000 Iraqis had been killed since the start of the war in March

2003. The White House later said he was referring to previously reported estimates.

Iraq Body Count, a British research group that compiles its figures from reports by the major news agencies and British and US newspapers, claims that between 27 707 and 31 232 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the war began.

As of Tuesday, at least 2 183 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war, according to an Associated Press (AP) count.

That includes at least 1 712 killed in hostile action. In 2005, 845

American servicemen were killed, according to an AP tally — one shy of the 846 deaths the previous year. The AP figures do not include military civilian deaths, and the military may still announce more deaths from 2005 in the coming days. – Sapa-AP