Almost 2,000 bodies were taken to Baghdad's morgue in July, the highest tally in five months of rising sectarian bloodshed which has forced the United States to boost troop levels in the capital to head off a civil war. Morgue assistant manager Doctor Abdul Razzaq al-Obaidi said on Wednesday that about 90 percent had died violently.
"Most of the cases have gunshot wounds to the head. Some of them were strangled and others were beaten to death with clubs," he told Reuters. The grim statistics came as a new poll showed the Iraq war had become more unpopular with Americans and four Iraqis suspected of involvement in the abduction of American journalist Jill Carroll were arrested by coalition forces.
The CNN poll showed that 60 percent of Americans were against the US war in Iraq, the highest level of opposition since the 2003 invasion, and a majority would back a partial withdrawal of US forces by year's end.
Carroll was freed unharmed in March after 82 days in captivity. More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since the 2003 invasion.
The daily drumbeat of violence continues, claiming at least 16 lives and injuring 37 others in attacks around the country.
In Baghdad, five people were killed when gunmen opened fire on a street vendor grilling fish in the western district of Jamiaa, an Interior Ministry source said. Police also found nine bodies of civilians in various parts of the capital.
The July morgue toll of 1,815 marked a big jump over the 1,595 in June and is the largest since the aftermath of the February bombing of the Shia Golden Mosque of Samarra, which triggered an explosion of sectarian violence.
Iraq's Health, Interior and Defence ministries consistently provide lower figures than those released by the morgue. Figures from those ministries showed about 1,000 civilians were killed across Iraq in July in "terrorism" attacks.
Mounting sectarian violence has prompted the United States to reinforce troop levels in Baghdad, which is regarded as the key to security in the whole country but is increasingly divided along sectarian lines.
US Major General William Caldwell, chief US military spokesman in Iraq, said on Wednesday that US and Iraqi forces had conducted operations against 10 death squads throughout Baghdad in the last week, and also found 222 roadside bombs. Sunni Arab leaders have accused Shia militias of running death squads, a charge they deny.