Baghdad – The numbers of U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians reported killed across the country last month fell to their lowest levels in more than a year, a sharp decrease in violent deaths that American military officials attribute in part to the thousands of additional soldiers who arrived this year.
The death toll for Iraqi civilians fell sharply in September, according to Iraqi government and U.S. military figures.
One count from Iraq’s Health Ministry put the monthly death toll at 827 civilians, a 48 percent drop from the total in August, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release the statistics.
The downward trend among victims of violence was mirrored by dropping fatalities among U.S. soldiers.
The U.S. military toll for September was 64, the lowest since July 2006, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press from death announcements by the American command and the Pentagon.
U.S. military officials expressed optimism Monday about the declining death tolls, particularly because the reduction comes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a time when violence has risen in past years. But they warned that insurgent groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq remain lethal and are likely planning for a counteroffensive of violent attacks.
The violence continued Monday. A car bomb exploded in a suicide attack just outside Mosul University in northern Iraq, killing a professor and wounding six other people, including four students.
The U.S. military reported the deaths of three soldiers. One was killed by gunfire Sunday in eastern Baghdad while on a combat operation. In central Baghdad on Sunday, another soldier was killed and 10 were injured while on a combat mission, the U.S. military said. Two Iraqi soldiers, an interpreter and another Iraqi also were injured.
A third American soldier died and another was wounded in Qadisiyah province, south of Baghdad, in what the military called a noncombat incident.
