European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 2, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 6 stars and stripes 2007 too Early to declare a Christopher a spokesman for the military in Iraq official says iraqi civilian death toll Down by Sinan Salaheddin the associated press Baghdad around iraqi civilians were killed in Vio Lence in a 36 percent drop from the previous month and the lowest monthly toll this according to iraqi government Fig ures obtained the decrease comes amid a troop increase in Baghdad that began in february and has been building with the Mili tary launching simultaneous offensives in mid june aimed at up rooting insurgents in the capital and neighbouring provinces to the Northeast and a military spokesman said the decrease was encouraging but that it was too Early to at tribute it to the the synchronized Effort Only began two weeks its too Early to de Clare a said Chris Gopher but iraqi officials hailed the de Cline As a sign that the Security crackdown was this is one of the results of the implementation of the Security plan and the deployment of extra iraqi and Qassim Almous Sawi such figures show that the Security operations Are going in the right direction and they Are working As june saw heavy military with 101 american ser Vic members that made the toll from the april june period 331 the deadliest Quarter 36 percent fewer people died in june than in May Auva a brother of Muthana an iraqi Soldier who was killed by a sniper in Baghdad Mansour neighbourhood cries Over his coffin during a funeral sunday in for troops in Iraq since the March 2003 an officer at the iraqi Interior ministry operations room said iraqi civilians were killed in along with 190 policemen and 31 the officer spoke on condition of anonymity be cause he was not authorized to re lease the in civilians were along with 127 policemen and 47 according to ministry the accuracy of civilian death figures in Iraq has been in doubt since the Start of the conflict and May reflect Only a portion of the casualties the figures suggest a Down Ward which May be due to military pressure on insurgents in Baghdad and the sur rounding president Bush ordered nearly More troops to Iraq this year in a major push to pacify Baghdad and surrounding and in deployment of the Force was on the commander of forces in Joseph Fil said american and iraqi Secu Rity forces now control 48 percent to 49 percent of the 474 neighbor hoods in Baghdad up from 19 percent in troops launched two Large offensives on june 15 one in Diya la province Northeast of Baghdad the other in regions South of the capital where insurgent control had commanders in Diya la have claimed successes in Dis lodging but they acknowledge three quarters of the senior militant commanders is seven iraqi policemen were killed sunday in two bombing at a suicide bomber detonated an explosive packed truck at a checkpoint at the Entrance of the City of West of killing five an officer in fal Lujah in Eastern a Roadside bomb exploded near killing after the gun men sped by in a spraying machine gun wounding three policemen and three civil ians in the capitals Zay Una a police officer both officers spoke on Condi Tion of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to elsewhere in the gun men in a vehicle opened fire on a minibus carrying shiite killing one passenger and wound ing police also the Bullet riddled body of a senior police commander was discovered in police deaths in Iraq the associated press As of at least members of the military have died since the beginning of the Iraq War in March according to an associated press the figure includes seven military civil at least died As a result of hostile according to the military the a count is eight higher than the defense departments last updated Friday at 10 British military has reported 156 deaths 33 18 20 13 11 seven Al five Slova four three thai two each and South one death the latest deaths reported by the military a Soldier was killed Friday by an explosive in South the latest identifications reported by the military no identifications kurd offer to protect holy shiite shrine in Central Iraq sunni legislator to quit join resistance Baghdad sunni legislator Abdu Nasser Alja Nabi said Satur Day he is quitting parliament and joining the resistance because the political process has a member of the iraqi accordance said there is no alternative in Iraq other than quitting the political process and returning to armed resistance because the americans and iranians Are running he spoke to Al Nazeera television from a Day after his bloc suspended its participation in Cabinet meetings to pro test the Way shiite prime minis Ter noun Almalik handled Legal proceedings against one of their sunni Almalik issued a statement saturday warning that withdraw Al from the government will not solve the problem but will make it More from the associated press australian prime minister disavows report of plan to pull troops from Iraq the associated press Australia prime minister John Howard Dis missed a news report sunday that said he has a secret plan to begin withdrawing australian troops from Iraq in the Story from this morning is Howard the plan is so i dont know anything about in denying that full Sydney the sunday Telegraph cited unnamed sources As saying the australian withdrawal was expected to begin at the same time As the United states begins to draw Down its combat troops in the has yet to announce any planned redeploy ment of its Australia has troops in Iraq supported by 600 Navy and air Force personnel in the who originally commit Ted troops to support and British forces in the Iraq inva Sion on the understanding that australians would not be part of the occupation has refused to give a timetable for Australia the opposition labor party opposed the War and pledged to bring most of the troops Home if it wins elections due later this labors defense spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon predicted that Howard would announce a timetable for withdrawal to keep Iraq from be coming an election i think there is Little doubt that Hes laying the groundwork for a Bac flip a significant Bac flip because he Doest want this to be an Issue in the Lead up to the next Fitzgibbon told sky the associated press Baghdad kurdish officials offered to provide troops to protect a shiite shrine in the Cen trial iraqi City of Samarra that was heavily damaged twice in bomb Ings the past 16 destroy ing its dome and officials said the offer would have to be approved by the shiite led govern ment of prime minister Nouri Almalik but could anger Many sunni arabs in who Are suspicious of the the Sakariya shrine in Samar a is one of the holiest places for and a february 2006 bombing that destroyed its Golden dome sparked retaliation by shiites and a Cycle of sectarian it was struck again last bringing Down its two min a delegation from the autonomous kurdish Region of Northern Iraq made the proposal to shiite cleric Muntada who recently called off a March to Samarra planned for july 5 after the government and sunni leaders urged him to do so for fear of Sec tarian a kurdish delegation visited Najaf and came Forward with the initiative to protect the holy shrine and guarantee Security to the companies and workers who will rebuild the said Saleh a legislator from Alsa drs bloc in he said the sadist movement Wel comes the Jabbar an undersecretary for the kurdish regional ministry of Pes Merga kurdish said a pre dominantly kurdish battalion of the iraqi army 2nd brigade is ready to go to Samarra to protect the the Force will be mixed of arabs and turkmen and does not belong to any ethnic Yawar he added that the Force was waiting for a decision by the Baghdad govern defense ministry spokesman Mohammed alas Kari said there is no need for a Force to deploy in the area since the iraqi army 4th made up mainly of shiite and sunni is deployed in Salahuddin where Samarra is he added that an iraqi army Force has deployed around the shrine since the june 13