Insurgency in Iraq takes toll

At least 2,600 Iraqi civilians, police and soldiers and 35 US military personnel have been killed in Iraq since Washington formally ended combat operations a year ago, new statistics show.

As US troops prepare to leave Iraq by the end of the year, the figures show a Sunni insurgency and attacks by Shia militias are taking a serious toll despite violence falling sharply since a peak after the 2003 US-led invasion. Attacks last month included a series of co-ordinated assaults on 15 August when 60 people died, but August saw no US military casualties, the first such month since the invasion.