The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: News

In this photo taken Feb. 23, 2009, a man visits the grave of his brother, Natiq Abdul Zahra, who was killed in clashes with the US troops in 2007, at the cemetery in Najaf, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Iraq. Iraq's government has recorded 87,215 of its citizens killed since 2005 in violence that ranges from catastrophic bombings to execution-style killings, according to secret government statistics obtained by The Associated Press that reveal one of Iraq's most closely guarded secrets. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)

BAGHDAD (AP) - 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.

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 U.S.-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.

The Health Ministry has tallied death certificates since 2005, and late that year the United Nations began using them - along with hospital and morgue figures - to publicly release casualty counts. But by early 2007, when sectarian violence was putting political pressure on the U.S. and Iraqi governments, the Iraqi numbers disappeared. The United Nations "repeatedly asked for that cooperation" to resume but never received a response, U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq said Thursday.

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