Iraq's health ministry said yesterday that between 100,000 and 150,000 people have been killed since the 2003 US-led invasion, after earlier presenting the higher figure.
Health Minister Ali al-Shamari was quoted in the media on Thursday in Vienna as saying that 150,000 people had died since the invasion.
An official with the ministry also confirmed the figure yesterday, but later said that the estimated deaths ranged between 100,000 and 150,000.
"The minister was misquoted. He said between 100,000-150,000 people were killed in three-and-a-half years," the official said.
"These were killed during military confrontations, assassinations and sectarian assassinations," the official said, adding that between 70 and 80 people were dying in violence each day.
He said the ministry had started keeping records in early 2004, effectively meaning that those killed during the actual invasion and in the ensuing months were not included in this figure.
Al-Shemari said on Thursday that he based his figure on an estimate of 100 bodies per day brought to morgues and hospitals -- though such a calculation would come out closer to 130,000 in total.
"It is an estimate," he said.
He blamed Sunni insurgents, Wahhabis -- Sunni religious extremists -- and criminal gangs for the deaths.
Hassan Salem, of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) said the 150,000 figure included civilians, police and the bodies of people who were abducted, later found dead and collected at morgues run by the Health Ministry.
SCIRI is Iraq's largest Shiite political organization and holds the largest number of seats in parliament.
The number of dead has been a controversial topic of repeated speculation. Most estimates, such as those by the Iraq Body Count project, have put the figure at between 50,000 and 60,000.
Last month the British medical journal The Lancet published a report estimating that 650,000 people had actually died since the invasion, based on extrapolations from people interviewed.
The figure has been dismissed as wildly exaggerated by the Iraqi government, press agencies and the US military, which itself will not release data on civilian casualties in Iraq.
Iraq's health ministry is controlled by supporters of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and has often been accused by US authorities of exaggerating casualty counts.
Meanwhile, the head of the Baghdad central morgue said on Thursday he was receiving as many as 60 violent death victims each day at his facility alone.
Dr. Abdul-Razzaq al-Obaidi said those deaths did not include victims of violence whose bodies were taken to the city's many hospital morgues or those who were removed from attack scenes by relatives and quickly buried according to Muslim custom.
He said the morgue had received 1,600 violent death victims last month.
US forces suffered 105 deaths last month.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in