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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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June 1st,
2009 - Iraq Civilian Deaths Fall After April Spike |
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Iraq Civilian Deaths Fall After
April Spike By Robert H. Reid Associated Press June 1, 2009 Baghdad - Iraqi civilian
deaths fell dramatically in May after what was the bloodiest month of the
year, officials said Monday, but a deadly bombing in a Baghdad market shows
the dangers still facing Iraqis. It was unclear whether the
sharp drop in Iraqi deaths represented a significant improvement in security
or a tactical decision by extremists to refrain from major attacks, perhaps
holding their fire until U.S. combat troops pull out of Baghdad and other
cities by the end of this month. At least 134 Iraqi civilians
were killed in May, compared with 290 in the previous month, according to
figures compiled by three Iraqi ministries. Deaths among Iraqi security
forces fell too - 31 in May compared with 65 in April, according to the
government. An Associated Press tally,
based on reports from local police, military officials and hospitals, also
showed a sharp drop in deaths but with different figures. The AP count showed
176 Iraqi civilians were killed in May - down from 288 the month before. Iraqi security forces deaths
fell from 83 in April to 49 in May, according to the AP tally. Discrepancies in casualty
tolls are common in Iraq. Nevertheless, both the government and the AP
tallies indicate that the surge in bombings and other attacks in April was
not replicated last month. By comparison, U.S. military
deaths rose from 19 in April to at least 24 in May - the highest monthly toll
since last September when 25 U.S. service members died. Five of the American
victims, however, were killed in a May 11 shooting at a counseling center at
Camp Liberty in Baghdad. Sgt. John M. Russell has been charged with five
counts of murder. A string of four
high-profile bombings during a seven-day period in April killed nearly 200
people, raising fears that Sunni insurgents had regrouped and rearmed after
suffering major setbacks on the battlefield after the U.S. troop surge of
2007. In all, April's carnage
claimed at least 451 Iraqi and non-American lives, according to AP figures,
matching the figure of last October and the deadliest month this year. The
April deaths included 80 Iranian pilgrims killed in a bombing north of
Baghdad. May's AP tally of 225 deaths
- civilians and security troops - was the lowest since the agency began
tracking Iraqi casualties in May 2005. In the meantime, Iraqi
authorities say they broke up several Sunni insurgent cells in the capital
this month, including some with Tunisian and Moroccan fighters. They cited
the arrests as one of the reasons behind the drop in bombings. Nevertheless, attacks have
continued, although at a lower level. Four people were killed and
14 were wounded when a bomb exploded Monday morning at the Rasheed wholesale
produce market in the Dora district of south Baghdad, police said. A bomb at the same market
last month killed 15 people wounded nearly 50. The blast occurred in a
mostly Sunni part of Dora, which used to be an al-Qaida stronghold. Most of
the farmers who bring produce to the market are Shiites. An Iraq police official said
the bomb Monday was planted near the front gate of the market. Fruits and
vegetables were scattered amid burning vehicles near the gate after the
blast. "I heard a big
explosion, followed by a ball of fire and smoke billowing up," said
merchant Falah Amer al-Jubouri, who was bargaining with wholesale dealers
when the bomb went off. "Everyone rushed
outside to see burning cars with dead and wounded people trapped inside
them," he said. Also Monday, a suicide
bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a checkpoint near a police
station in the northern town of Jalula, killing a 7-year-old child and
wounding eight other people, an Iraqi police official said. A grenade thrown at a U.S.
patrol in the northern city of Mosul missed the Americans but killed one
Iraqi and wounded 15 others, according to a provincial police official. The Iraqi officials spoke on
condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the
information to. The AP News Research Center
in New York contributed to this report. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hwK_CSpBxsNuVUEaDuOwmSSCiqGwD98I1UQO0 |