Baghdad, Iraq – Iraq reported Tuesday that about 12,000 civilians were killed last year – the third full year since the U.S.-led invasion – with a sharp rise in the past three months, when 5,000 died. Only about half as many Iraqi soldiers died in 2006 as American troops.
But the number of Iraqi security forces killed jumped to 1,539, nearly double the American death count of 823 for the year, when the deaths of police, who conduct paramilitary operations, are added to the number of slain Iraqi soldiers.
In all, the Iraqi ministries of Health, Defense and Interior reported a total of 13,896 Iraqi civilians, police and soldiers died last year, 162 more than the tally kept by The Associated Press.
The AP count, assembled from its daily news reports, was always believed to be substantially lower than the actual number of deaths because the news cooperative does not have daily access to official accounting by the Iraqi ministries. Many deaths were thought to have gone unreported by AP.
Counts kept by other groups, including the United Nations, list far higher tolls, which are disputed by the Iraqi government.
While the U.S. government and military provide no death totals for Iraqis, the U.N. Assistance Ministry for Iraq, UNAMI, does keep a count based on reports it gathers from the Baghdad morgue, Ministry of Health, and Medico-Legal Institute.
