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Deaths in Iraq hit seven-month high

The number of Iraqis killed last month climbed to 1,082, mostly civilians, the highest monthly figure since August, amid a spike in violence driven by clashes between Shiite militiamen and security forces, officials said yesterday.

Combined figures obtained from the interior, defense and health ministries showed that the total number of Iraqis killed last month was 1,082, including 925 civilians, up 50 percent on the February figure of 721.

The jump in last month's toll was due to a week of heavy fighting between Iraq's security forces and Shiite militiamen in Baghdad and the southern oil hub of Basra, and the result of sustained bomb attacks by insurgents.

The figure confirms a reversal of the trend of gradually decreasing violence since June and follows tolls of 541 in January, 568 in December, 606 in November, 887 in October, 917 in September, and 1,856 last August.

A total of 54 Iraqi soldiers and 103 policemen were killed last month, the figures showed.

The number of people wounded last month was 1,630, almost double February's tally of 847.

Clashes broke out in Basra a week ago when Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered his troops to raid neighborhoods controlled by the Mehdi Army militia of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

The fighting spread to Baghdad and other Shiite areas of the country, killing at least 461 people, an AFP tally based on reports by security officials showed.

The battles eased after Sadr on Sunday ordered his fighters to withdraw from the streets.

Clashes since then have only been sporadic.

Maliki yesterday ordered his security forces to stop random raids and arrests but said they should "deal strongly with any groups carrying arms in public."

His order came as Sadr's leaders accused the security forces of continuing to arrest Mehdi Army members in Basra and other Shiite areas of Iraq.

Harith al-Athari, chief of Sadr's office in Basra, said the cleric's militiamen were being "exposed to random arrests and raids, houses of the members were being burned. This is in violation of what has been agreed upon."

Sadr, meanwhile, hailed his Mehdi Army militia for standing up to Iraq's security forces during the recent fighting.

"I greet you and thank you for facing the difficulties, being patient, obedient, supportive of each other, defending your land, people and honor," Sadr said in a handwritten statement released by his office in the holy city of Najaf late on Monday.

The number of US soldiers who died in Iraq also rose last month, with 37 killed across the country, up from 29 in February an AFP tally showed, based on figures from the independent Web site icasualties.org.

January's Iraqi death toll had reached a 23-month low, with US commanders saying that all types of attacks were down to levels not seen before the February 2006 bombing of a Shiite shrine in the town of Samarra that unleashed a wave of sectarian violence.

The reduction in the violence during the six months to January was attributed to a "surge" of an extra 30,000 US troops in Iraq, the formation by Sunni leaders of anti-al-Qaeda fronts and Sadr's suspension of the activities of his Mehdi Army militia the previous August.
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