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Iraqi Civilian Deaths Spike in August

Posted Sep 1, 07 10:49 AM CDT in World    Editor's Choice

(Newser) – August was the second deadliest month for Iraqi civilians since the US troop surge began, the AP reports, with almost half the deaths occurring on just one disastrous day. At least 1,809 Iraqis were killed last month, compared to 2,100 in December, just before the surge began. On August 14, four suicide bombings killed 520 people in the war’s single deadliest day.

The number of killed coalition troops dropped slightly last month to 85 from 88 in July. AP calculates the average rate of coalition deaths per day at 2.74, the second lowest since the surge began, down from a peak of 4.23 per day in May. US officials have been trumpeting declining troop casualties ahead of a series of reports to Congress on Iraq’s progress that could decide the fate of the war.

Source Associated Press

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An Iraqi woman is helped as she mourns dead relatives in the village of al-Jazeera, 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Mosul, Iraq Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007. In a string of coordinated suicide truck bombings,...   (Associated Press)
An injured woman lays on a path after receiving fist aid, Wednesday Aug. 15, 2007, after a coordinated suicide attack late Tuesday in the town of Qahataniya, 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Mosul,...   (Associated Press)
ry blamed on al-Qaida, making it the deadliest attack since the war began. The victims of the attack, which the U.S. blamed on al-Qaida, were members of the Yazidis, a small Kurdish sect that has been...   (Associated Press)
An Iraqi woman mourns for dead relatives in the village of al-Jazeera, 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Mosul, Iraq on Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007. In a string of coordinated suicide truck bombings, more than...   (Associated Press)
A dead victim is carried from the rubble on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2007, after a coordinated suicide attack late Tuesday, in the town late of Qahataniya, 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of Mosul, Iraq....   (Associated Press)
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Iraq  • Iraq war  • US military  • Baghdad  • troop surge  • David Patraeus



Related Threads: Iraq Civil War, Body Count in Iraq

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