Written question asked by Bob Spink (Conservative) on Tuesday, 18 May 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 28 June 2004. It was answered by Adam Ingram (Labour) on Monday, 28 June 2004 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his latest estimate is of the number of (a) civilians, (b) coalition forces and (c) terrorists killed in Iraq since the end of the war; and what the evidential basis is for his estimate.

Answer: Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his latest estimate is of the number of (a) civilians, (b) coalition forces and (c) terrorists killed in Iraq since the end of the war; and what the evidential basis is for his estimate. [174830] Mr. Ingram: Since the end of major combat operations on 1 May 2003, United Kingdom forces have suffered 25 fatalities. Those suffered by other members of the International Coalition are a matter for them to comment on. Since 1 May, UK Units have reported all confirmed fatalities of which they are aware arising from incidents in which they were involved and we have put in place a mechanism for central collation of unit reports. However it is not always possible to confirm whether fatalities or injuries have occurred during a particular incident. For example, in some incidents we believe Iraqi dead and/or injured may have been taken away by their compatriots before UK Forces could investigate. In other incidents UK Forces have been forced to withdraw before any Iraqi fatalities and/or injuries could be confirmed. Consequently we have no viable means of assessing the completeness of the information. The same difficulty arises in estimating the number of terrorists killed.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 174830; 423 c143W
Session: 2003-04
Subjects: Armed forces Death Civilians Iraq Peacekeeping operations Terrorism
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk