Baghdad: Iraq's government has recorded 87,215 of its citizens killed since 2005 in violence ranging from catastrophic bombings to execution-style slayings, according to government statistics obtained by The Associated Press that break open one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war.
Six years after Iraq invasion
Combined with tallies based on hospital sources and media reports since the beginning of the war and an in-depth review of available evidence by The Associated Press, the figures show that more than 110,600 Iraqis have died in violence since the 2003 US-led invasion.
The number is a minimum count of violent deaths. The official who provided the data to the AP, on condition of anonymity because of its sensitivity, estimated the actual number of deaths at 10 to 20 percent higher because of thousands who are still missing and civilians who were buried in the chaos of war without official records.
Image: In this Wednesday, October 15, 2008, file photo, a man holds a skull believed to be of his relative in Karbala's hospital morgue, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq. It belonged to one of 22 bodies of shepherds, apparently killed by gunmen, who were found in a mass grave in al-Rufe'a area, in western Karbala, the police said.
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