By Paul Tait
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Violent civilian deaths in Iraq rose by36 percent in February from the previous month after a seriesof large-scale bombings blamed on al Qaeda, Iraqi governmentfigures showed on Saturday.
A total of 633 civilians died violently in February,compared with 466 in January, according to figures released byIraq's interior, defence and health ministries, the firstincrease after six consecutive months of falling casualtytolls.
Despite its sharp rise, the February 2008 figure was stilldramatically lower than the 1,645 civilians who died violentlyin the same month a year ago. A total of 701 civilians werewounded, compared with 2,700 a year ago.
Declining civilian casualties have been hailed by Iraqi andU.S. military officials as proof that new counter-insurgencytactics adopted last year have been working and Iraq has becomesignificantly safer.
But February's casualty figures spiked after female bomberskilled 99 people at two popular pet markets in Baghdad onFebruary 2 in attacks blamed on Sunni Islamist al Qaeda.
A suicide bomber targeting pilgrims heading to the holyShi'ite city of Kerbala for a religious ritual killed 63 peoplein Iskandariya just south of Baghdad on February 24 in anotherattack blamed on al Qaeda.
Officials say attacks across Iraq have fallen 60 percentsince last June, when an extra 30,000 U.S. troops became fullydeployed as part of the new counter-insurgency strategy, whichincluded moving troops out of large bases and into smallercombat outposts.
That coincided with the growth of largely Sunni Arabneighbourhood police units, whose U.S.-backed guards now numberabout 80,000 and are also credited for playing a large part inimproved security.
Security crackdowns last year forced al Qaeda out of formerstrongholds in western Anbar province and around Baghdad. Butmilitants have regrouped in four northern provinces, where U.S.and Iraqi security forces have launched a series of offensivesthis year.
U.S. military deaths fell after a spike in January. So far29 U.S. soldiers have been reported killed in February,compared with 40 in January.
Both figures are still much lower than a year ago, when 81and 83 were killed in February and January 2007 as Iraqteetered on the brink of all-out sectarian civil war.
A total of 3,973 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraqsince the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Friday's data showed that 65 policemen and 20 Iraqisoldiers were killed, compared with 132 and 28 respectively inJanuary, and that 235 insurgents had been killed and 1,340detained.
Another key factor in improved security has been thesix-month ceasefire announced last August of the Mehdi Armymilitia of anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Thatceasefire was extended by another six months earlier thismonth.
Despite security improvements, U.S. military commanderswarn al Qaeda remains a dangerous enemy and security gainscould still be reversed.
The U.S. military is proceeding with plans to withdraw fivecombat brigades from Iraq by mid-year and expects to have140,000 troops in Iraq in July, a slightly larger force thanwhen it began pouring extra troops in last year.
(Editing by Caroline Drees)
