Deaths in Iraq decline, but pain of losses does not – paper

Iraq-Paper BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The number of combined military and civilian deaths in Iraq for October hit the lowest monthly levels since May 2004, the United States military said Sunday, the International Herald Tribune newspaper said on Monday. “The announcement was further evidence of a decline in violence since a significant troop increase last year, but the tragedy of one family in Kirkuk is a reminder of just how dangerous life in Iraq continues to be,” it said. In the past year, Khudaer Muhammad Abdullah, 49, endured the loss of his two older sons. On Sunday he lost his last son, and his 4-year-old daughter is now hospitalized with serious wounds. His last son, Muhammad Khudaer Muhammad, 7, was killed when part of a rocket-propelled grenade exploded on a vacant lot where he was playing soccer with three other children, according to police reports. “Muhammad was killed instantly in the blast. His friend Ahmed Hamid Jelu, 9, lost both legs and died at a hospital shortly afterward. Two other children – Hassan Dhaya, 7, and Muhammad’s sister, Ahlan Khudaer Muhammad – were seriously wounded,” it said. “Abdullah, a shepherd, said that he had just returned from leading his sheep to pasture when Muhammad asked permission to play soccer with some friends in the lot across the road from the family’s home,” it continued. “About 15 minutes later, around 3 p.m., Abdullah heard an explosion,” it added. “Their bodies were completely torn apart by the blast,” Abdullah said. His son, he surmised, must have been sitting on the ground waiting for the ball to be passed to him, because he found Muhammad seated. An official at Kirkuk’s morgue later said that Muhammad’s head had been blown off. “That was just the latest tragedy to befall Abdullah’s family, and it has left him wondering if there is such a thing as a safe place to live here. He already had lost his two older sons as a result of the war, he said. First, Muazzaz, 19, was kidnapped and killed. Then last month, Saad, 21, was killed in a suicide bombing near the Kirkuk police academy, where he was a student.” “Now I lost my little son just as I lost his two brothers,” Abdullah said. “Today, I lost the last son. I have no one left except my daughter.” “Thanks to the strategic partnership we have with the coalition forces, the Iraqi security forces and the people of Iraq, the overall situation here with regard to security continues to improve,” Brigadier General David Perkins, a spokesman for the United States-led forces in Iraq, said at a news conference. He declined to give a breakdown of the number of military and civilian deaths. But according to icasualties.org, which tracks United States military deaths, 13 American service members were killed in Iraq in October. Despite the improvements, violence continued to rage in the northern city of Mosul, where at least 15 Iraqis were killed and 32 were wounded last week. SH (I)/SR 1