Iraq 'hiding true casualty figures' - Le Monde

[Opusnone]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20617973-1702,00.html

"THE Iraqi Government has told medical authorities not to reveal to the UN the true extent of civilian casualties in the country's conflict, French newspaper Le Monde said today.

The daily quoted a telegram sent by the head of the UN mission in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, to headquarters in New York, in which he said: "This development risks damaging the capacity of the UN's Assistance Mission to report the number of civilians killed or injured."

Since July 2005 the UN has used data provided by Baghdad's Forensic Institute and the Iraqi health ministry to form an estimate. The estimate "was certainly imperfect but an indicator nonetheless of the growing number of civilian victims", the telegram said.
The latest report said that 3590 civilians died a violent death in July and 3009 in August, figures which it said were "unprecedented".

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