Iraqi deaths rise to 1,082 in March following bloody clashes

THE number of Iraqis killed in March climbed to 1,082, the highest monthly figure since August 2007, amid a spike in violence driven by clashes between Shi’ite militiamen and security forces, officials have said.

Combined figures from the interior, defence and health ministries showed that the total number of Iraqis killed in March was 1,082, including 925 civilians, up 50% on the February figure of 721.

The jump in the March toll was due to a week of heavy fighting between Iraq’s security forces and Shi’ite militiamen in Baghdad and the southern oil hub of Basra, and the result of sustained bomb attacks by insurgents.

The figure confirms a reversal of the trend of gradually decreasing violence since June 2007, and follows tolls of 541 in January, 568 in December, 606 in November, 887 in October, 917 in September, and 1,856 last August. 54 Iraqi soldiers and 103 policemen were killed in March, according to the figures.

The number of people wounded in March was 1,630, almost double February’s tally of 847.

Clashes broke out in the southern city of Basra a week ago when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered his troops to raid neighbourhoods controlled by the Mehdi Army militia of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The fighting spread to Baghdad and other Shi’ite areas of the country, killing at least 461 people, according to an AFP tally based on reports by security officials.

The battles eased on Sunday when al-Sadr ordered his fighters to withdraw from the streets in a ceasefire deal while Maliki ordered his security forces to stop random raids and arrests but said they should “deal strongly with any groups carrying arms in public”.

Clashes since then have only been sporadic.

Al-Sadr, meanwhile, hailed his Mehdi army militia for standing up to Iraq’s security forces during the fighting. “I greet you and thank you for facing the difficulties, being patient, obedient, supportive of each other, defending your land, people and honour,” said al-Sadr. Last month also saw a spate of bombings across Iraq, including one on March 18 near a revered Shi’ite shrine in the central city of Karbala that killed more than 50 people.

The number of US soldiers who died in Iraq also rose in March, with 37 killed across the country, up from 29 in February, according to an AFP tally.

Meanwhile, a roadside bomb struck an armoured vehicle carrying an Iraqi commander and a senior defence official in Basra yesterday as they entered a Shi’ite militia stronghold that has seen some of the fiercest fighting. Nobody was hurt in the blast, said Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari, who was in the vehicle. But an Iraqi cameraman for US-funded Alhurra TV, an English language station broadcast across the Middle East, was shot and wounded in a separate attack as he filmed a show of force by Iraqi troops in the oil-rich city.

The government forces did not face the widespread resistance of recent days but the violence underscored the tenuous nature of the peace emerging from the ceasefire between the government and militias.