UN: 3709 Iraqi's killed in October, 65% of Baghdad deaths by execution

BAGHDAD, Nov. 22 — More Iraqi civilians were killed in October than in any month since the American invasion in 2003, a report released by the United Nations today said, a rise that underscored the growing cost of Iraq’s deepening civil war.

According to the report, 3,709 Iraqis were killed in October, up slightly from the previous all-time high in July, and an increase of about 11 percent from the number in September.

The figures, which include totals from the Baghdad morgue as well as hospitals and morgues across the country, have become a central barometer of the war here and a gauge of the progress of the American military as it tries to bring stability to this exhausted country.

A dangerous trend surfaced: Sixty-five percent of all killings in Baghdad were executions, the signature technique of militias, who kidnap, kill and throw away corpses at a rate that now outstrips the slaughter inflicted by suicide bombers.

“We have a situation in which impunity prevails,” said Gianni Magazzeni, head of the United Nations’ Human Rights Office in Baghdad, which compiled the report. “It’s critically important for the government to ensure that justice is done.”

The figures illustrate in stark percentages just how deeply the killing has sunk into Iraqi society. They had been a point of contention for the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, which suppressed them in September after criticizing them as inflated.

But the United Nations stands by the count, which tallies unclaimed bodies from Iraq’s six morgues and death certificates — required for burial and for inheritance procedures. If anything, the numbers appear to be lower than the actual figure. Figures from hospitals come from the Ministry of Health, which counts deaths only on the day of the attack. Victims who die a day later are not counted.

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