Study: Suicide bombings inflicted massive deaths in Iraq 2003-2010

Sep 2, 2011, 16:28 GMT

New York - Suicide attacks from the time US troops invaded Iraq in 2003 to the beginning of their withdrawal last year killed more than 12,000 civilians and 200 allied soldiers, The Lancet said Friday.

Researchers at British and US universities found that 12,284 civilians died as a result of suicide bombings of the total of more than 100,000 civilian deaths during the 2003-2010 period.

Washington order US troops into Iraq on March 20, 2003 to topple the regime of President Saddam Hussein. The US-led multinational forces met fierce insurgent resistance for seven years until Washington decided to pull out, which should be completed later this year.

Coalition forces suffered 200 deaths in 79 suicide bombings, as follows: 175 US, 16 Italians, three Britons, four Bulgarians and one Thai.

The Lancet said researchers analyzed and compared databases on suicide bombings, finding that documented suicides caused widespread casualties among Iraqi civilians.

The injured-to-killed ratio for civilians stood at 2.5 people injured to one person killed from suicide bombs. It said suicide bombers on foot caused 43 per cent of deaths while suicide attackers using vehicles caused 40 per cent of civilian injuries.

It said 75 per cent of deaths from suicide bombings were men, 11 per cent were women and 14 per cent were children.