25,000 Civilians Killed in Iraq

Nearly 25,000 civilians have been killed since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, a US-British non-governmental organisation said, based on survey of media reports.

Controversially, the Iraq Body Count survey blames 37 per cent of the deaths on US-led forces, an assertion vigorously denied by the US military.

Insurgents caused only 9.5 per cent of the deaths in the survey, but criminal gangs – often hard to distinguish from insurgents – accounted for 36 per cent. "Unknown agents" accounted for 11 per cent. But the insurgent and criminal share of killings appears to be on the rise.

The survey says almost one third of civilian deaths occurred during the two-month invasion, but that more civilians died in the second year after it, reflecting worsening instability.

The low overall share attributed to insurgents "would not appear to tally with the situation on the ground, where insurgent violence is rife," Reuters newswires observed.

Iraq Body Count called its survey "a unique insight into the human consequences of the US-led invasion."

CHECK THE IRAQI BODY COUNT DATABASE

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