Iraq: Key Figures Since the War Began

October 1, 2008

U.S. Troop Levels

October 2007: 170,000 at peak of troop buildup

August 2008: 152,000

Casualties

Confirmed U.S. military deaths as of Sept. 30, 2008: At least 4,174

Confirmed U.S. military wounded (hostile) as of Sept. 6, 2008: 30,634

Confirmed U.S. military wounded (non-hostile, using medical air transport) as of Sept. 6, 2008: 34,061

U.S. military deaths for September 2008: 24

Deaths of civilian employees of U.S. government contractors as of July 1, 2008: 1,229

Iraqi deaths in September from war-related violence: 503, according to an AP tally

Assassinated Iraqi academics as of July 10, 2008: 377

Journalists killed on assignment as of Sept. 30, 2008: 135

Cost

Over $558 billion so far, according to the National Priorities Project

Oil Production

Prewar: 2.58 million barrels per day

Sept. 21, 2008: 2.31 million barrels per day

Internal Refugees

September 2008: At least 2.8 million people currently displaced inside Iraq

Emigrants

Prewar: 500,000 Iraqis living abroad

September 23, 2008: More than 2 million — mainly in Syria and Jordan.

All figures are the most recent available.

Sources: The Associated Press, State Department, Defense Department, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, The Brookings Institution, U.N. High Commission for Refugees, International Organization for Migration, Committee to Protect Journalists, National Priorities Project, The Brussels Tribunal, Department of Labor.

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Bombs Kill 24 Near Shiite Mosques

An Iraqi man grieves over the body of his younger brother after at least 24 people are killed outside two Baghdad mosques. (Photo credit: Helmiy Al Azawi / Reuters)

October 2, 2008

BAGHDAD — Suicide bombers targeted Shiite worshippers as they left morning prayers Thursday [Oct. 2, 2008] at two Baghdad mosques, killing 24 people and wounding more than 50 others, police said.

In a separate attack, gunmen fatally shot six people as they traveled in a minibus in Wajihiyah, a town 60 miles north of Baghdad in a mainly Shiite area.

The dead were all Sunnis heading to Baqouba to visit relatives. They included two children, three women and a man, police in Diyala province said. Another woman and her small child were injured. …

Separately Thursday, a bomb in western Baghdad wounded four American soldiers, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Steven Stover said. He gave no other details, but Baghdad police said the attacker was a suicide bomber in a car who detonated his explosives on a U.S. convoy. …

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More Iraqi Forces, Fewer Americans Die in Iraq

September 30, 2008

BAGHDAD — The number of Iraqi security forces killed in September rose by nearly a third to 159 compared with the same period last year, Associated Press figures showed Tuesday. U.S. troop deaths for the same period fell by nearly 40 percent to 25 — only eight due to combat. …

Iraqi forces taking on bigger role

The U.S. combat death toll in September was in sharp contrast to the number of Iraqi security forces who were killed in attacks.

At least 159 Iraqi police, soldiers and Sunni armed guards who have joined forces with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq were killed in September, compared with 120 in 2007, according to AP figures that are based on reports from police and hospital officials.

The 32 percent increase comes as the U.S. military has been increasingly relying on the Iraqis to take the lead in operations so they can take over responsibility for their own security and let the Americans eventually withdraw. …

Civilian casualties

Overall civilian casualty figures in September remained relatively low despite a spate of deadly attacks that struck Baghdad and surrounding areas during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which ends Tuesday for Sunnis and Wednesday for Shiites.

At least 496 Iraqis were killed, a 50 percent drop in total deaths compared with 1,023 reported last September, according to AP figures. That was a slight uptick from the 475 Iraqi deaths in August.

Thirty-two percent of those killed were security forces, compared with 12 percent of the total figure last September, the AP figures showed. …

There are now about 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. …

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Security Developments in Iraq

Following are security developments in Iraq on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008 as reported by Reuters.

BAGHDAD – A U.S. soldier died of his wounds after coming under small arms fire in northern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD – A parked car bomb killed two people and wounded four others by the national theater in central Baghdad’s Karrada district, police said.

BAGHDAD – The Iraqi army killed two militants, including a Syrian fighter, and arrested two other foreign fighters, from Syria and Yemen, in Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad, a security source said.

ISKANDARIYA – Iraqi soldiers and police arrested 25 suspected Shi’ite militants in Iskandariya, 25 miles south of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL – Gunmen stormed a coffee shop and shot dead one of its employees on Monday in central Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL – A body of a woman was found with gunshot wounds to her head on Monday in eastern Mosul, police said.

BAGHDAD – One body was found with gunshot wounds in Baghdad on Monday, police said.

BAGHDAD – Several mortar bombs wounded five people on Monday in the district of Hurriya in northwestern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – Three people were wounded by mortar bombs in the Ghazaliya district in western Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – U.S. forces detained 11 militants on Monday and Tuesday during operations targeting al Qaeda in Iraq in and around Baghdad and Mosul, the U.S. military said.

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AFPAK UPDATE

6 Killed in Suspected U.S. Missile Strike in Pakistan

October 1, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A missile strike by a suspected U.S. drone killed at least six people in a Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border, two Pakistani intelligence officials said Wednesday.

The strike came amid reports that Pakistan’s top Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, had fallen ill and died. Officials have accused Mehsud over the slaying of former leader Benazir Bhutto.

The two intelligence officials said the missiles struck the home of a local Taliban commander before midnight Tuesday near Mir Ali, a town in the North Waziristan region. …

American forces recently ramped up cross-border operations against Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Pakistan’s wild border zone, a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden.

The attacks have drawn stiff protests from Islamabad, an uneasy ally in Washington’s seven-year war on terror, particularly since a highly unusual Sept. 3 raid by U.S. ground troops in the South Waziristan region.

Pakistani leaders insist only their forces are allowed to carry out operations inside Pakistan, and its troops recently fired warning shots at U.S. helicopters flying over the ill-marked frontier.

South Waziristan is the stronghold of Mehsud, the head of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group for militant groups operating across Pakistan’s northwest. …