Margaret Griffis / AntiWar.com – 2016-01-04 12:22:04

http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2015/12/31/over-51000-killed-in-iraq-during-2015/

(December 31, 2015) — Antiwar.com has found that at least 52,045 people were killed across Iraq during 2015, while at least 19,651 were wounded. The number of fatalities reported was slightly higher than in 2014, but the number of wounded was substantially lower. These figures should be taken as very rough estimates and probably low estimates at that.

The number of civilians and security personnel killed was 14,571. Another 16,548 were wounded. Militants lost about 37,474 personnel, and another 3,562 were wounded. Again, these figures are mere estimates.

Due to the nature of the conflict, it is difficult to obtain accurate figures. While there is reason to believe that the Iraqi government is withholding accurate casualty figures for security personnel, it is also likely that they may be exaggerating the casualties among the Islamic State militants.

One Canadian and two American servicemembers were also killed during the hostilities.

During December Antiwar.com found 3,638 people died and 899 were wounded. These figures were compiled from news reports. Although 2,966 of the deaths belonged to Islamic State militants, their number of dead is likely much higher, as it does not include a very rough and unconfirmed estimate that 1,000 militants were killed during the capture of Ramadi this week. Likewise, there were few reports of casualties among security forces. They came in at only 301 deaths, while 371 civilians were lost.

The United Nations released their figures on Friday. They found 980 people were killed. Of those, 506 were civilians. Another 1,244 were wounded. They do not attempt to count any militant deaths, nor any deaths at all in Anbar Province. Anbar’s health department offered a figure of 124 dead and 15 wounded for civilians.

Combining the figures, at least 4,070 people were killed in Iraq during December, and 1,358 were wounded.

Other News:
Security forces may now be considering Falluja ahead of Mosul as the next city to be liberated from Islamic State control. Falluja is a more logical target as it is close Baghdad, but it could turn out to be more difficult than Ramadi to recover.

Authorities estimate that about 700 militants are still active in the Ramadi suburbs. About 200 families are believed being held by Daesh in the Ramadi area, but many others escaped and are telling their stories.

Over 1,000 Sunni Arab men from Hawija have finished their training in Baghdad and joined a new police regiment in neighboring Kirkuk. The plan is for the men to support security forces during the liberation of Hawija.

At least 118 were killed and 13 were wounded in recent violence:

In Baghdad, one soldier was killed and another was wounded when a bomb exploded. A bomb in Amin killed one person and wounded six more.

One person was killed and six were wounded in a blast in Mahmoudiya.

Thirty militants were executed for fleeing the fighting in Ramadi. Seven militants were killed in an airstrike.

Security forces killed 27 militants during an operation in Hawija.

Peshmerga forces in Sinjar killed 20 militants who were attacking them.

In Samarra, an airstrike killed 11 militants.

Eight militants were killed in Husayba.

In Mkesheifa, six militants were killed.

Six militants were killed in an airstrike on Kazakh.

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