Maybe we will do body counts after all

About 26,000 Iraqis have been either killed or injured in attacks by militants since January 2004, a report published by the Pentagon suggests. The data, which appears in a survey compiled in answer to questions from US Congressional staff, gives no figure for Iraqis killed in US-led operations.

Nor does it appear to differentiate between civilians and security forces.


UK-based peace activists estimated this summer that civilian deaths alone since March 2003 had reached nearly 25,000.

Basing its count on media reports, the Iraq Body Count group estimated that about 37% of these deaths were caused by US-led forces and added that, overall, more than 42,000 Iraqi civilians were injured.

Pentagon spokesman Greg Hicks said the figures released by his department should be regarded as "a kind of a snapshot".