86,000 Iraqis killed since 2004, official figures show

AT LEAST 85,994 Iraqis lost their lives between 2004 and 2008 because of violence, Iraq's government has said, in its first comprehensive tally released since the war began.

The report by the human rights ministry came out as part of a larger study on human rights in the country. It said 85,694 people were killed in the four-year period, and 147,195 were wounded during the same period.

The toll counted Iraqi civilians, military and police. It did not cover foreign military deaths, insurgents, or other foreigners, including security contractors.

The Iraqi death toll has been a hotly disputed subject and critics across the political spectrum have accused others of manipulating the death numbers to sway public opinion.

As Iraq became increasingly violent following the 2003 invasion, it also became increasingly difficult to track such figures independently on a wide scale.

The most recent numbers from Iraq Body Count, a private London-based group that has tracked civilian casualties since the war began, puts the number of civilian casualties as of 14 October at 93,540.

A study by the World Health Organisation in 2008 put the figure at 104,000 to 223,000.

Most controversially, a study published in the medical journal the Lancet in 2006, put the death toll at 655,000 – using criteria that included 50,000 deaths other than from violence, such as those who died from disease and other causes related to the invasion.

The latest report was based on death certificates issued by the health ministry. Statistics from the initial months of the invasion in 2003 have been extremely difficult to obtain as there was no functioning Iraqi government during that time and the interim government was not seated until mid-2004. The report described the years that followed the US-led invasion, which toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein, as extremely violent years.

"Through the terrorist attacks like explosions, assassinations, kidnappings and forced displacements, the outlawed groups have created these terrible figures, which represent a big challenge for the rule of law and for the Iraqi people," it said.

The report also breaks down some specific numbers, saying 1,279 children and 2,334 women were killed. It puts the death toll of university professors at 263, judges at 21, lawyers 95 and journalists at 269 – some of the professions specifically targeted as the country descended into chaos.

The toll also included 15,000 unidentified bodies not claimed by their families and buried in special cemeteries.

Iraq's death toll continued to climb yesterday, when three near-simultaneous blasts struck the southern Shia holy city of Karbala.

At least six people were killed, Iraqi police and medical officials said.

A police official said the first blast took place at 4pm near one of the city's two major shrines. Two more explosions followed soon after at the second shrine.

Police said at least 40 people had been wounded in the attacks.

The casualties have been confirmed by an official at the Karbala hospital.

Both the police and medical official spoke on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorised to release the information.

Despite a dramatic drop in violence in Iraq, insurgents continue to target civilians, especially Shiites and their shrines.