The civilian death toll from violence in Iraq fell by more than a quarter in August, partial monthly statistics from three government ministries suggested on Friday, despite a spike in violence in the last week.
Some 769 Iraqi civilians were killed in August, 28 percent down from the 1,065 civilians killed in July, figures compiled by Iraq's health, defence and interior ministries showed.
The death tolls are approximate and the methodology of such statistics is not revealed. The three ministries consistently provide lower figures than the numbers released by Baghdad's morgue, which reported last month that it received nearly 2,000 bodies in July.
The US military, which launched a major security crackdown with Iraqi forces in Baghdad three weeks ago, reported last week a 50 percent drop in violence in the capital since July.
The United Nations, which also publishes estimates of violent deaths in Iraq, compiles data from the Baghdad morgue and the Health Ministry. Its latest report, published in July, said 6,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in May and June.
According to the latest monthly report from the three ministries, 104 "terrorists" were killed in August along with 75 Iraqi police and 80 Iraqi soldiers. "Terrorists" refers to Sunni and Shia militants.
A series of explosions hit a Baghdad neighbourhood on Thursday, killing nearly 70 people. Some of those deaths were incorporated into the figures released on Friday.
Increasing sectarian violence unleashed by the bombing of a revered Shia shrine in February has prompted fears of a civil war between Muslim Shias and Sunnis.
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