The Rag Blog: The Numbers Are Staggering

21 November 2006

The Numbers Are Staggering

Death toll in Iraq eclipses record for a month
By Steven R. Hurst
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
11/20/2006

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The numbers are staggering: In the past eight days, at least 715 Iraqis have died in the country's sectarian bloodbath.

They've been beheaded, tortured and blown up while looking for work.

They've been shot, kidnapped and felled by mortars.

The number of killings in the past eight days is more than all but a few U.S. states see in a year. Iraq's death toll has reached at least 1,320 already in November, well above the 1,216 who died in all of October, which was the deadliest month in Iraq since The Associated Press began tracking the figure in April last year.

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