A total of 211 Iraqis — 120 civilians, 56 policemen and 35 soldiers — died as a result of attacks in April, the monthly data compiled by the ministries of health, interior and defense showed.
Sunday’s figures were around 15 percent lower than the monthly toll for March, when 247 Iraqis were killed.
A further 377 people were wounded last month: 190 civilians, 97 policemen and 90 soldiers. The figures also showed that 49 insurgents were killed and 199 arrested in April.
The figures were driven largely by three consecutive days of violence in which 40 people were killed.
On Saturday, a suicide blast in the main northern city of Mosul killed seven people, in nationwide unrest that claimed 13 lives overall.
And a Sunni imam’s family and four Sunni brothers were shot dead in attacks in the restive central Iraqi province of Diyala on Friday, a day after a suicide bomber killed 10 worshippers in a nearby mosque.
A spate of assassinations also took place last month, which officials warned could be a new trend indicating insurgent groups were adopting lower-cost methods to destabilize Iraq as local security forces have become more capable.
At least seven senior military and civilian officials were killed in the past two weeks, and at least three others have narrowly escaped being murdered.
The toll was released one day after the US military confirmed a soldier was killed in southern Iraq, the 11th death in April, making it the deadliest month for US forces since November 2009.
Around 45,000 US soldiers still remain stationed in Iraq. While they are primarily charged with training and equipping their local counterparts, they can return fire in self-defense and still take part in joint counter-terror operations with Iraqi forces.
The soldier’s death also brought to 4,452 the number of American troops to have died in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.
Meanwhile, Iraqi lawmakers approved a controversial $400 million settlement Saturday for Americans who claim they were abused by Saddam Hussein’s regime during the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
The settlement is part of a deal reached between Baghdad and Washington to end years of legal battles by US citizens who claim they were tortured or traumatized, including hundreds held as human shields.
Many Iraqis consider themselves victims of both Saddam’s regime and the 2003 US-led invasion and wonder why they should pay money for wrongs committed by the ousted dictator.
Lawmakers approved the settlement by a majority after listening to the foreign and finance ministers as well as the head of the central bank describe why it was necessary, said Abbas Al-Bayati of the State of Law political bloc.
Another lawmaker, Mahmoud Othman, said by approving the settlement, Iraq would be protecting itself from more lawsuits in the future that could have been well above the $400 million that was agreed to.
“They explained very well what was the settlement and how it will be negative if we don’t approve it,” he said.
“That’s why people were persuaded.” Lawmakers affiliated with anti-American cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr rejected the settlement, said one of the bloc’s legislators, Hakim Al-Zamili. Al-Zamili said he was surprised that so many lawmakers who had been arguing against the legislation before Saturday’s session reversed course at the last minute.
“It’s better to compensate the Iraqi martyrs and detainees than the Americans,” he said.
Saddam’s regime held hostage hundreds of Americans during the run-up to the Gulf War, using them as human shields in hopes of staving off an attack by the US and its allies.
Most of the Americans had been living and working in Kuwait and after being taken hostage were dispersed to sites around Iraq.
Many of the Americans pursued lawsuits for years against Saddam’s government and kept up their legal fight after Saddam was overthrown in 2003 and a new government came to power.
Some former American troops who were captured by Saddam’s military during the Gulf War and repeatedly tortured and abused have also sued as have relatives of American oil workers who were working in Kuwait when they were picked up by Iraqi guards along the border.
It’s not clear exactly who will be entitled to money under the settlement. When asked who would receive the money, a spokesman for the US Embassy in Baghdad, David Ranz, said: “We are not in a position to confirm whether specific cases or claims by specific individuals are covered by the agreement.” He declined to comment further.
Iraq was under a time crunch to approve the settlement before June 30, when Iraq will assume responsibility for overseeing its oil revenue account. Since 2003, the country’s oil revenue has been held in a New York-based account that shelters it from international creditors’ claims. The UN-backed protection expires when the oil revenue is transferred to Iraqi control, and Iraq could face international creditors like any other country.
According to the Parliament’s website, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told lawmakers the Iraqi government still had the right to submit its own demands for compensation to the American government.
Many Iraqis harbor deep resentment toward the US for the bloodshed unleashed after the toppling of Saddam. Eight years on, violence still plagues the country.
In the northern city of Mosul a suicide bomber blew himself up Saturday near an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing seven people. Police and medical officials said 20 people were injured in the blast. Five of the dead were Iraqi soldiers.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
