Independent UK: 2000 Death Toll Last Month In Iraq (Not counting this weekend)

[Hissyspit]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2241457.ece

The death toll of 31 days in Iraq
In this war-torn country, nobody is safe from bloodshed. In Ramadi, Kirkuk and Basra, they count the dead as the violence worsens
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 06 February 2007

From north to south, from east to west, violence and insecurity have gripped the entirety of Iraq. In January alone, at least 2,000 civilians, Iraqi security forces and US and British troops were killed in violence across the nation.

As President George Bush dispatches an additional 21,500 combat troops ­and at least as many again in a supporting role ­ to try to bring calm to Baghdad, new figures suggest that violent death is becoming an everyday occurrence across all of Iraq and in cities that rarely make the headlines. In recent weeks places such as Kut and Mosul have reported civilian deaths as a result of gunfire or explosions.

"There has long been this idea that if you control Baghdad you can control the whole country, but that just does not make sense," said Nir Rosen, a fellow at the Washington-based New America Foundation who has spent more than two years in Iraq reporting on the violence. "Iraq has fragmented. I don't think Baghdad has any relevance to what is happening in Kirkuk, Mosul, Basra or Ramadi."

- snip -

Available data suggests that Baghdad is the most perilous place in Iraq. Just last weekend, at least 132 people were killed and more than 300 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in a lorry in the city's Sadriya market.

MORE