1.17.2007
UN Clashes With Iraq on Civilian Death Toll (Guardian.co.uk)
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Wednesday January 17, 2007
The Guardian
The UN said yesterday that the civilian death toll in Iraq last year was 34,452 - much higher than previous estimates - as an explosion outside a Baghdad university killed a further 65 people. The bomb at al-Mustansiriya university went off as students were queuing for minivans to take them home at the end of their day's study. About 138 were wounded.
Within an hour, gunmen opened fire in a mainly Shia neighbourhood, killing 11 people and wounding five. The attacks came after 109 bodies were found overnight in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq. Four US soldiers were also killed yesterday by a roadside bomb in the northwest of the country.
The UN report put the death toll for last year much higher than the 12,357 figure released earlier this month by Iraq's interior ministry and the 22,950 reported by the Washington Post last week apparently based on Iraqi health ministry statistics.
The Iraqi government is reluctant to release figures partly from embarrassment and partly because it claims they feed the sectarian violence. It has accused the UN of exaggeration in the past.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited > Special Report > Iraq) ¶ 22:03
Wednesday January 17, 2007
The Guardian
The UN said yesterday that the civilian death toll in Iraq last year was 34,452 - much higher than previous estimates - as an explosion outside a Baghdad university killed a further 65 people. The bomb at al-Mustansiriya university went off as students were queuing for minivans to take them home at the end of their day's study. About 138 were wounded.
Within an hour, gunmen opened fire in a mainly Shia neighbourhood, killing 11 people and wounding five. The attacks came after 109 bodies were found overnight in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq. Four US soldiers were also killed yesterday by a roadside bomb in the northwest of the country.
The UN report put the death toll for last year much higher than the 12,357 figure released earlier this month by Iraq's interior ministry and the 22,950 reported by the Washington Post last week apparently based on Iraqi health ministry statistics.
The Iraqi government is reluctant to release figures partly from embarrassment and partly because it claims they feed the sectarian violence. It has accused the UN of exaggeration in the past.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited > Special Report > Iraq) ¶ 22:03
