Continuing a trend which has violence levels at a four year low.
The statistics come at a time when the U.S. military is close to completing a drawdown of more than 20,000 combat troops that were sent to Iraq in early 2007 to pull the country back from the brink of all-out sectarian civil war.
Numbers from the Health Ministry showed 448 civilians were killed in June, down from 505 in May. The May figure was down from 968 civilian deaths in April, a month when fighting spiraled between Shi'ite militias and security forces.
U.S. officials credit the turnaround in security to President George W. Bush's decision to send extra troops to Iraq, a rebellion by Sunni tribal leaders against Al-Qaeda, and a cease-fire by anti-American Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Plus, Iraq Reaches 15 of 18 Benchmarks which spells solid progress for this fledging democratic republic. GP has the details.
