Sunday, September 29, 2024

Baghdad

Violent deaths in Iraq fall in 2010 – IBC

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The number of civilians killed by violence in Iraq in the past year was the lowest since the 2003 US-led invasion, a rights group has said. Iraq Body Count (IBC), which collates casualty reports, said deaths dropped by 15% from 2009 to just under 4,000, according to BBC News. It said two bombs exploded each day on average, each killing four people. But the group warned the number may have reached an “impassable minimum”, and that civilians were likely to die at a similar rate for years to come. In its annual report, IBC said 3,976 people had died violently in Iraq over the past year, compared to 4,680 in 2009. Of the 2010 deaths, 66% were caused by insurgent bomb attacks. The capital Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul were the worst affected areas. “After nearly eight years, the security crisis in Iraq remains notable for its sheer relentlessness: 2010 averaged nearly two explosions a day by non-state forces that caused civilian deaths,” IBC said. “As well as occurring almost daily, these lethal explosions can happen almost anywhere, with 2010’s attacks occurring in 13 of Iraq‘s 18 administrative regions.” The date was “followed by an immediate halving in the number of civilian deaths between August and September, and lowered levels have continued into the winter months”, it said. But while the number of deaths has continued to fall since a peak in 2006 and 2007, the rate of decline has also dropped, from 50% and 63% in previous years. “Taken as a whole and seen in the context of immediately preceding years, the 2010 data suggest a persistent low-level conflict in Iraq that will continue to kill civilians at a similar rate for years to come.” SH (S) 3