Casualties in the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq
US Casualties returning to Dover AFB in a C130
Casualties from the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the ensuing U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.
As of April 20, 2004, the coalition death toll in this conflict was 810. Out of 810, 706 U.S, 59 UK, 17 Italian, 12 Spanish, 5 Bulgarian, 4 Ukrainian, 2 Thai, 2 Polish, 1 Danish, 1 Estonian and 1 Salvadoran have died. More than 75% of these died after Bush's announcement on May 1, 2003 that major combat was over.
According to the Pentagon, 3,269 U.S. soldiers had been wounded in action through April 9, 2004, of whom 2,132 were wounded severely enough that they could not return to action within 72 hours. In addition, 444 U.S. troops were wounded in non-hostile circumstances through March 31, 2004. (Starting in April, 2004, the Pentagon is apparently reporting statistics only on soldiers wounded in action.)
Coalition soldiers continue to come under attack in towns across Iraq.
Coalition casualties in the 2003-2004 conflict now exceed those of the 1990-1991 Gulf War, and Iraqi casualties appear to have reached similar levels, though accurate counts of the latter are not available for either conflict. (In the Gulf War, Coalition forces suffered around 378 deaths; among the Iraqi military, tens of thousands were killed, along with thousands of civilians.)
Many non-combatants have been killed or wounded during the war as well, including at least 24 journalists and more than 150 UN, international aid personnel, and foreign contractors.
Finally, there is another notable category of casualties among citizens of coalition countries in this war: armed civilian security contractors in Iraq, many of them working for the U.S. Department of Defense. Although reporting on this situation has been quite sparse, one article [1] reports that at least 80 such "mercenaries" recruited from the U.S., Europe, and South Africa to work in Iraq for American companies were killed during a period of 8 days in early April 2004--more than the roughly 70 coalition troops who were killed in the same period.
Estimates of the number and cause of Iraqi civilian deaths and injuries in the 2003-2004 conflict are less precise. The Iraq Body Count project, which compiles reported Iraqi civilian deaths (excluding deaths attributable to the Iraqi government) has a minimum estimate of 8,865 and a high of 10,715 as of April 10, 2004.
As for the major combat phase of the war from March-April 2003, Abu Dhabi TV reported on April 8, 2003 that Iraqi sources claimed 1,252 civilians had been killed and 5,103 had been wounded. In comparison, the Iraq Body Count Project estimated that through April 9, 2003, between 996 and 1,174 civilians had been killed.
There are no concrete numbers of dead Iraqi soldiers, although in late May 2003, one reporter for The Guardian estimated that between 13,500 and 45,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed by American and British troops during the six weeks of major combat [1]. (Following that period, the Iraqi military was effectively disbanded.)
U.S. Central Command has given few figures on the subject, but officials did estimate that 2,000-3,000 Iraqi troops were killed in one day alone during a blitz into Baghdad on April 5, 2003, suggesting that a total in the tens of thousands is not unlikely for the entire 6-week war.
Coalition casualties
Iraqi civilian casualties
Iraqi military casualties
External links and references