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Total casualty rate in Iraq lowest in 2 years

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, February 6, 2006

BAGHDAD — The U.S. military has reported the lowest casualty rate in Iraq in nearly two years.

Officials said the casualty rate in Iraq dropped significantly in January 2006. They said that for most of the month, the casualty rate was the lowest since early 2004.

"In January, there were 19 days where the number of casualties were lower than 50," Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said. "And that's the lowest rate we've seen since the spring of '04."

Lynch told a briefing on Feb. 2 that total casualty figures — civilian and military — reached 1,600 in January, Middle East Newsline reported. The figure was 1,000 fewer than the average over the previous three months and less than half of the attacks recorded in May 2004.

"You can see a significant trend line down in the number of casualties: coalition, civilian and Iraqi security force casualties," Lynch said. "If you work the numbers you realize that 50 percent of the casualties are Iraqi civilians."

The decline in casualties was said to have stemmed from both the number of attacks and the failure of improvised explosive device strikes against Iraqi and U.S. troops. Officials said that over the last few months, the U.S. military has enhanced counter-measures against IED attacks.

Officials said the military could not yet determine whether the drop in attacks marked a trend. But they said the U.S. and Iraqi militaries have eliminated scores of Al Qaida-aligned insurgency cells in the Anbar province believed responsible for the assembly of suicide car bombs around the Baghdad area.


Copyright © 2006 East West Services, Inc.

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