Written question asked by Adam Price (Plaid Cymru) on Friday, 28 November 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 6 January 2004. It was answered by Adam Ingram (Labour) on Tuesday, 6 January 2004 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps need to be taken to enable the number of civilian casualties killed by British forces in Iraq since the end of the conflict to be ascertained.

Answer: Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps need to be taken to enable the number of civilian casualties killed by British forces in Iraq since the end of the conflict to be ascertained. [141675] Mr. Ingram: All casualties witnessed by UK forces are reported, but it is not always possible to determine accurately the number of casualties that occur during a particular incident. For example, in some incidents, Iraqi injured and/or dead may have been taken away by their compatriots before UK Forces could investigate. In other incidents, UK forces have been forced to withdraw from situations before an accurate assessment of the number of casualties could be made. In such incidents we have no reliable means of ascertaining the number of casualties and there are no practical steps we could take to do so.

Secondary information