Civilian casualties in Iraq rise again

Violent civilian deaths in Iraq rose 36 per cent in February from the previous month after a series of large-scale bombings blamed on al-Qaeda, Iraqi government figures showed today.

A total of 633 civilians died violently in February, compared with 466 in January, according to figures released by Iraq's interior, defence and health ministries. It was the first increase after six consecutive months of falling casualty tolls.

Despite its sharp rise, the February 2008 figure was still dramatically lower than the 1,645 civilians who died violently in the same month a year ago. A total of 701 civilians were wounded, compared with 2,700 a year ago.

Declining civilian casualties have been hailed by Iraqi and US military officials as proof that new counter-insurgency tactics adopted last year have been working and Iraq is safer.

February's casualty figures spiked after female bombers killed 99 people at two pet markets in Baghdad on February 2nd and a suicide bomber killed 63 people returning from a Shia religious ritual south of Baghdad on February 24th.

Both attacks were blamed on al-Qaeda.

Officials say attacks across Iraq have fallen 60 per cent since last June, when an extra 30,000 US troops became fully deployed as part of the new counter-insurgency strategy, which included moving troops out of large bases and into smaller combat outposts.

That coincided with the growth of largely Sunni Arab neighbourhood police units, whose US-backed guards now number about 80,000 and are also credited with playing a large part in improved security.