Iraqi suicide bombings killed 12,000 civilians, 200 coalition soldiers since war began: Study

Baghdad, Aug 2 (ANI): Suicide bombers in Iraq have killed at least 12,000 civilians and 200 coalition soldiers since the war began, a study has revealed.

The research paper by Dr Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks of King's College London, the London-based Iraq Body Count and others, described suicide bombs in Iraq as "a major public health problem", killing significantly more civilians than soldiers. It is published as part of a Lancet series on the health consequences of 9/11, The Guardian reports.

Difficulties in getting victims to hospital quickly enough for emergency treatment have been cited among the reasons for the high civilian death toll.

The study also found that children are more likely to die than adults if they are injured in a suicide bombing.

Using data analysed by the Iraq Body Count, which collects verified reports of deaths and injuries, as well as other data on military deaths, the authors say that over 30,000 Iraqi civilians were injured by suicide bombs between 20 March 20 2003 and 31 December 2010, and 12,284 Iraqi civilians were killed in more than 1,000 suicide bombings. These amounted to 10 percent of civilian deaths and 25 percent of civilian injuries from armed violence in that period, they said.

About a third of the Iraqi fatalities (3,963) were demographically identifiable. Of those, 75 percent were men, 11 percent were women and 14 percent were children. An Iraqi child died in at least 159 (16 percent) of the 1,003 suicide bombings and a woman or child in at least 211 (21 percent), the paper quoted the report, as saying.

In the same period, 200 coalition soldiers were killed in suicide attacks, out of which 175 Americans were killed in 76 attacks, while 16 were Italians lost their lives in one attack. Besides, three Britons were killed in one bombing, while four Bulgarians and two Thai soldiers died in one incident.

"Suicide bombers in Iraq use suicide bombs strategically as cost-effective, precise, highly destructive weapons," the authors said, adding that the Iraqi civilian population suffers substantially because it is "a primary chosen target of suicide bombers and those who deploy them". (ANI)