BAGHDAD, March 3 (UPI) -- U.S. and Iraqi figures put the total nationwide death toll among Iraqi civilians down more than 60 percent from their February 2007 totals.
Despite recent attacks targeting civilians in Iraq, notably an attack on Shiite pilgrims traveling to Karbala for holy day celebrations in late February, the total number of civilian deaths from the violence in Iraq is down significantly, the U.N. humanitarian news agency, IRIN, said Monday.
The official figure of civilian deaths was at least 633 nationwide, down from more than 1,801 at this time last year.
Security analysts in Baghdad said the security situation in Iraq is helped along by the increased presence of U.S. forces in Iraq, the cease-fire declared by the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr and the presence of the Iraqi security force known as Sons of Iraq.
