Iraq Body Count rises

The total number of people killed in Iraq from the invasion in March 2003 up to 24 March 2008 is between 82,408 to 89,928, according to the website iraqbodycount.org.

In spite of a drop off in the number of killings in 2007 (as compared with a very bloody final six months in 2006), monthly death tolls are on the rise again. Preliminary totals from IBC's daily assessment of international and Iraqi media-reported violent incidents show 947 civilian deaths between 1 and 27 February, 180 more than the equivalent January total of 767 civilian deaths over a shorter number of days.
Another, possibly more revealing trend is that IBC's monthly figures indicate a steep drop in violence affecting Iraqi civilians between August and September 2007, but only a gradual reduction since. This makes it easier to see the small rise in 2008 as part of a greater trend of reduction