At least 554 Iraqis were killed in the month of October in insurgent and sectarian attacks, according to the latest figures from Iraq’s three ministries.
The data from the Interior, Defence and Health Ministries indicate that the death toll in October is one of the lowest since an attack on a Shi’ite shrine in February last year that unleased a wave of sectarian violence in Iraq.
According to the ministries another 333 bodies were found across the country, many of whom were killed in previous months.
An attack on the al-Askari shrine in the central city of Samarra in February last year set off a wave of brutal sectarian bloodletting that killed tens of thousands of people.
The violence peaked in January this year with 1 992 deaths reported by the three ministries.
In October 425 civilians, 116 policemen and 13 soldiers were killed, while another 144 civilians, 180 policemen and 39 soldiers were wounded, the figures showed.
Iraqi deaths totalled 840 in September, according to the ministries, less than half the August total of 1 770.
‘Surge’ is working
Meanwhile, the death toll for US combat troops in the country dropped sharply to 27 last month, the lowest monthly total since March last year.
The figure is part of a downward trend that appears to confirm Pentagon claims that its ”surge” strategy is working.
The month’s last US fatalities were three soldiers killed on Tuesday when a bomb exploded as they patrolled south-east Baghdad.
The drop in US fatalities, mirrored by an apparent reduction in sectarian killings, is attributed by US commanders to the extra 30 000 US troops sent to Iraq this year to bring the total of US troops to 154 000.
Other factors cited include: the building of walls round Baghdad neighbourhoods that have restricted insurgents’ movements; the increasing use of local sheiks and their militias to fight insurgents; and measures such as introducing proper ID checks, including biometric testing. – Reuters, Guardian