Iraq Civilian Deaths Plummet 40% From Last Month

PatDollard.Com:
Agencie France Presse

At least 554 Iraqis were killed in the month of October in insurgent and sectarian attacks, according to the latest figures from Iraq’s three ministries obtained by AFP on Thursday.

The data from the interior, defence and health ministries indicate that the death toll in October is one of the lowest since an attack on a Shiite shrine in February last year that unleased a wave of sectarian violence in Iraq.

According to the ministries another 333 bodies were found across the country, many of whom were killed in previous months.

An attack on the Al-Askari shrine in the central city of Samarra in February last year set off a wave of brutal sectarian bloodletting that killed tens of thousands of people.

The violence peaked in January this year with 1,992 deaths reported by the three ministries.

In October 425 civilians, 116 policemen and 13 soldiers were killed, while another 144 civilians, 180 policemen and 39 soldiers were wounded, the figures showed.

Iraqi deaths totalled 840 in September, according to the ministries, less than half the August total of 1,770.

US and Iraqi commanders have hailed the declining casualty toll as proof of the success of a joint crackdown on insurgent and militias launched in Baghdad and other parts of the country since February.

p.s.
I'm currently reading David Bellavia's House To House. I'm not even halfway through the book yet and I've already shed some tears. I'm such a crybaby! So far this book is really good- I'm learning more about the troops, the insurgents and the war. I was also suppose to get this book (Blackwater), but I heard some crazy leftist guy wrote it so ... blah.