Baghdad, September 01: The month of August witnessed the highest number of deaths from violence in Iraq for 13 months, official figures showed Tuesday, with 456 people killed across the conflict-torn nation.
Statistics compiled by the defence, interior and health ministries showed that 393 civilians, 48 police and 15 soldiers were killed.
The figures marked the highest monthly death toll since July 2008, when a total of 465 people were killed.
August saw two massive truck bombings at the ministries of finance and foreign affairs in Baghdad that killed at least 95 people.
There were also 1,592 civilians, 129 police and 20 soldiers wounded in August, according to the figures.
In addition, 52 insurgents were killed and 540 arrested last month, said the ministries.
The number of deaths in August jumped markedly from the 275 Iraqis who lost their lives in July, in the immediate wake of a major pullout of US combat troops from urban centres the previous month.
The weeks leading up to the June 30 withdrawal of American forces from Iraq’s cities, towns and villages also saw a spike in violence, with 437 people dying that month.
–Agencies