Civilian death toll in Iraq spikes in May - Bush is liberating Iraqis at record pace

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/June/focusoniraq_June9.xml§ion=focusoniraq

BAGHDAD - A total of 2,071 Iraqis and US servicemen were killed in violence during the month of May, Iraqi newspaper Al Sabah said on Saturday.

According to the local newspaper, which called events in Iraq ‘a mad war,’ the US military lost over 122 soldiers. The civilian death toll reached 1,949.

At the same time, experts quoted by the television channel Al Arabiya said the May casualty figures were 30 per cent higher in comparison to preceding months.

As the figures surfaced Saturday so did police reports of overnight violence in Kirkuk, 250 kilometres north of Baghdad. According to local authorities, unknown gunmen blew up parts of a key bridge linking Kirkuk to the capital.