Iraq: Counting the Dead

The AP takes a snapshot of the violence in Iraq:

The U.S. troop buildup has brought violence in Baghdad down from peak levels, but the death toll from sectarian attacks nationwide is running nearly double the year-ago pace.

Some of the recent bloodshed appears to be the result of militants drifting into northern Iraq, where they have fled after U.S.-led offensives. Baghdad, however, still accounts for slightly more than half of all war-related killings—the same percentage as a year ago, according to figures compiled by The Associated Press….

The findings include:

• Iraq is suffering about double the number of war-related deaths nationwide compared with last year—an average daily toll of 33 in 2006, and 62 so far this year.

• Nearly 1,000 more people have been killed in violence across Iraq in the first eight months of this year than in all of 2006. So far this year, about 14,800 people have died in war-related attacks and sectarian murders. The AP accounted for 13,811 deaths in 2006.

• Baghdad has gone from representing 76 percent of all civilian and police war-related deaths in Iraq in January to 52 percent in July, bringing it back to the same spot it was roughly a year ago.

Those figures are "a minimum," the report notes: "The actual numbers probably are higher, as many killings go unreported or uncounted. Insurgent deaths are not a part of the Iraqi count." The story also observes that the U.S. "did not get all the additional American forces into Iraq until June 15, so it would be premature to draw a final statistical picture of the effect of the added troops. But initial calculations validate fears that the Baghdad crackdown would push militants into districts north of Baghdad."

[Via Liberty & Power.]