Iraq’s Monthly Death Counts For May 2011

May 2011 saw mixed numbers for Iraq’s monthly death count. Usually, the organizations that keep track of casualties in the country follow the same general trend, meaning they all go up and down at the same time. Last month that didn’t happen, but it was not the first time.

For May 2011 Iraq Body Count and icasualties saw an increase in deaths, while Iraq’s ministries reported a drop. Iraq Body Count had 356 killed for the month, compared to 285 in April, and icasualties had 223 in May, up from 152. Iraq’s Health, Defense, and Interior Ministries reported a drop from 211 deaths in April to 177 in May. That averaged out to 252 casualties in May, and 8.1 deaths per day for the month. That was up from the previous three months that saw around 7 deaths per day, but it was not a notable increase.

While each organization always has different monthly totals, they usually follow the same pattern. May was an exception, but not the first. That happened as recently as March when Iraq Body Count and Iraq’s Ministries had increases from February, while icasualties noted a drop.

The rise in deaths for May was likely the result of a slight up tick in attacks in Iraq for the last month. In April there were around 60 security incidents per month. For May that went up to just under 70. As reported before, violence is going up because Iranian backed Special Groups are stepping up their operations against U.S. forces trying to take responsibility for their planned withdrawal by the end of the year.  

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(Iraq Business News)

As reported before, deaths in Iraq have hit a plateau since January 2009. That was when many Sunnis decided to give the country’s political process a try, first in that year’s provincial council elections, and than the parliamentary vote in 2010. There are occasional spikes in attacks, but overall deaths in Iraq are pretty stagnant right now.

 

Last 12 Months Iraqi Death Counts And Averages

Month	Iraq Body Count	Icasualties	Iraqi Ministries	Avg. Monthly Deaths	Avg. Daily Deaths
Jun. 10	368	176	284	276	9.2
Jul.	430	534	535	499	16.1
Aug.	517	363	426	435	14.0
Sep.	252	174	273	233	7.7
Oct.	311	185	293	263	8.4
Nov.	302	174	171	215	7.1
Dec.	217	128	151	165	5.3
Jan. 11	387	210	259	285	9.2
Feb.	250	216	167	212	7.5
Mar.	307	171	247	241	7.7
Apr.	285	152	211	214	7.1
May	356	223	177	252	8.1

SOURCES

Agence France Presse, “Iraq death toll in May lowest in 2011,” 6/1/11

icasualties

Iraq Body Count