Number of civilians killed falls by half in 2009

REUTERS - The number of civilians who died in Iraq fell by half in 2009 to around 4,500, but improvements in the war-weary country's security have slowed and catastrophic attacks took a major toll this year, a new study found.

Human rights group Iraq Body Count put the 2009 death toll for civilians in Iraq at 4,497 through Dec. 16, the lowest since the 2003 invasion and under half the 9,226 who died in 2008.

But unlike 2008, the decline in violent deaths seemed to stagnate in 2009 -- the first half and the second half of the year had roughly similar figures, the group said in a report released on Friday.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have hailed the dramatic drop in violence in Iraq from the peak of sectarian killing in 2006-07.

According to U.S. military figures, violence peaked in late 2006 and early 2007 with up to around 1,700 attacks a week.

That is a far cry from late summer 2009, when around 200 attacks were recorded a week.

Still, the report noted troubling trends, like an increase during 2009 in the toll from large-scale bombings killing more than 50 civilians each. In 2008, 534 people were killed in nine such attacks compared with 750 killed in eight attacks in 2009.

"Iraq is clearly suffering more daily violence from terrorism and instability than any other country, considerably more violence even than Afghanistan and Pakistan," said John Sloboda, the group's co-founder and spokesman.

He said that despite Iraqi authorities' inability to stop a constant drumbeat of violence, there was "complacency among western politicians and western commentators who kind of imply that Iraq is solved."

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has staked his reputation on turning around Iraq's security situation, is struggling to contain the effects of a series of coordinated attacks targeting government facilities, the latest of which killed up to 112 people earlier this month.

Attacks continue outside the capital, too. In Ramadi, the capital of western Anbar province, at least 25 people were killed on Wednesday in what appeared to be an assassination attempt against the provincial governor.

The attacks add fuel to many Iraqis' fears that violence will resurge before March 7 national elections and beyond as American troops prepare to halt combat operations by next autumn and withdraw entirely by the end of 2011.

The Obama administration is increasingly looking toward the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan as it prepares to bring its troop level in Iraq to 50,000 by the end of August from 115,000 now.

IBC, which takes its numbers from public accounts like cross-checked media reports, hospital and morgue reports and civil society groups, puts the overall civilian death toll since the 2003 invasion at between 94,939 and 103,588.

The study highlighted other trends, such as an increase in targeted attacks using what locals here call "sticky bombs" -- explosives placed on cars using magnetic devices.

That marks a shift toward calculated, possibly politically motivated, assassinations and away from the mass killings of civilians at public places like crowded markets that have been one hallmark of al Qaeda in Iraq since 2003.