Iraq's citizen death toll drops by nearly 80 percent

Iraq's Citizen Death Toll Drops by Nearly ۸۰ Percent

Two reports suggested that civilian death toll from violence in Iraq has dropped significantly this year, a sign the country is emerging from years of militant-led bloodshed.

Hawzah News Agency (Baghdad, Iraq) - The two reports published on Saturday by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Iraq Body Count database showed that the toll from incidents involving civilians in Iraq in the first five months of 2018 had dropped by almost 80 percent, Middle East News reported.

The report by UNAMI showed 477 Iraqi civilians were killed in Iraq in acts of violence since the start of this year, a drop of 76.3 percent compared to 2,014 people killed in the same period in 2017.

The report also shed light on a 68.4-percent decrease in the number of wounded as a result of political and militant-led violence, saying 939 people had been injured in the studied period compared to 2,977 last year.

The Iraq Body Count, a London-based database which tracks violent deaths in the Arab country, also confirmed the decrease in the number of civilian fatalities, saying in its report that some 1,818 people had been killed in the beginning five months of 2018 compared to 7,708 in the same period in 2017, a drop of 76.4 percent.

Iraq announced late last year that it had managed to fully purge the Daesh (ISIS or ISIL) Takfiri terrorist group from almost a third of its territory that the group used to control.

Iraqis went to the polls last month with no security incidents, a first since the US invasion in 2003. No major attacks have been reported in Iraq during the holy month of Ramadan, which started in mid-May, again a significant difference compared to past years.