U.S. forces in Iraq are not the only ones killing civilians. Below is a news-brief about civilian deaths caused by insurgent and militia bomb-attacks. This article should be read along with an earlier one analyzing trends in the Iraqi civilian death toll.
San Francisco Chronicle, Aug 2007
Jump in Deaths from Mass-Victim Bombs
Baghdad — The number of Iraqi civilians killed in mass-casualty bomb attacks rose sharply from June to July, while the overall number of civilian deaths remained significantly lower than before the U.S. troop increase in February, according to a Washington Post analysis.
During July, 378 people were killed in mass-casualty bombings, defined as individual attacks that kill more than 20 people. That figure, nearly three times the number of casualties in similar attacks in June, breaks a three-month downward trend, a troubling statistic for security forces … weeks before President Bush is scheduled to receive a progress report on conditions in Iraq.
The number of civilian deaths resulting from large-scale bombings — usually car bombs — peaked in March, the first full month after thousands of additional U.S. troops arrived in Iraq to patrol Baghdad and surrounding provinces. The level of mass-casualty bombing fatalities dropped steadily through June but spiked significantly in July…
