Violent Deaths in Iraq Dropped in August

Iraqi army soldiers view the wreckage of a car used as a car bomb targeting a police patrol, in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday Aug. 31, 2006, wounding two policemen. Iraqi forces will take over security control of a southern province from coalition troops next month, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday.(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) (Hadi Mizban - AP)

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Preliminary Health Ministry figures released Thursday show violent deaths in Iraq dropped substantially in August from record levels the previous month, despite a surge of killings in Baghdad in the past week.

Civilians accounted for most of the recorded deaths.

At least 973 violent deaths were recorded throughout Iraq in August as of Wednesday, Dr. Riad Abdul Amir of the Health Ministry's statistics bureau told The Associated Press. They included 715 civilians, 80 Iraqi soldiers, 74 police and 104 "terrorists," he said.

The term "terrorists" likely include both Sunni and Shiite militants.

That represents a significant drop from the Health Ministry's July figure of 3,500 deaths, reported by Deputy Health Minister Adel Muhsin. He said that was the highest monthly figure recorded since the war began in March 2003.

According to an AP count, at least 966 Iraqis were killed in war-related violence in August and 1,015 were killed in July. These numbers include civilians, government officials, and police and security forces, and are considered a minimum based on AP reporting. They do not include insurgents.

The AP tally is compiled from hospital, police and military officials cited in news stories, as well as accounts from reporters and photographers at the scenes.

The Health Ministry's August figures included reports received from morgues and the interior and defense ministries.

According to Muhsin, about 1,500 of the July deaths occurred in Baghdad. Violent deaths in the capital fell to 550 in August, officials said Thursday. That was the lowest monthly tally in Baghdad this year.

U.S. officials attribute the drop in violent deaths to a major security crackdown launched Aug. 7. About 8,000 U.S. troops and 3,000 Iraqi soldiers were sent to the capital to search homes systematically and patrol the streets.

On Monday, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell said the murder rate in Baghdad had fallen by 46 percent from July to August and "we are actually seeing progress out there."

The decline in Iraqi deaths has not been matched by a drop in American casualties. At least 62 U.S. service members died in Iraq in August, compared with 43 in July.