Civilian Deaths Skyrocket

A double bombing that killed four people in Baghdad yesterday added to an already record-breaking month for the civilian death toll in Iraq. Officials announced that 396 civilians were killed in July, nearly doubling the number for June (204) and marking the highest total since June 2008. July also saw an additional 680 Iraqi civilians wounded, while 50 soldiers and 89 police officers died. Along with that data, the Iraqi government published the number of detentions in July and that too seems on the rise. Security forces made roughly 700 arrests last month, surpassing the highest mark for 2010 of 685, reached in January.