Over 87,000 Iraqis dead since 2005

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Source: CCTV.com | 04-25-2009 09:28

More than 87,000 Iraqis have been killed since 2005 in violence ranging from catastrophic bombings to execution-style slayings.

An injured women is treated at a hospital  after a double suicide bombing in in Baghdad. Two female suicide bombers struck a major  Shiite shrine in Baghdad, killing at least  58 people amid a brutal spike of attacks  nine weeks before US troops are to withdraw from Iraqi cities.(AFP/Khalil al-Murshidi)

Government figures show that of the 87,215 deaths, 59,957 came in 2006 and 2007. Sectarian attacks during this period soared and death squads roamed the streets. But officials said the number is only a minimum count of violent deaths. Estimates of the actual number killed are 10 to 20 percent higher. This is because of the thousands still missing and civilians who were buried in the chaos of war without official records.

The government figures, combined with hospital sources and media reports, show more than 110,600 Iraqis have died in violence since the 2003 US-led invasion.

Editor:Xiong Qu