BRITAIN: A group of former British diplomats, peers, scientists and church leaders will today urge the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to launch an inquiry into the death toll of the Iraq war.
In a letter released to Reuters news agency, some 44 signatories said Mr Blair had rejected estimates of the number of dead that range from 14,000 to 100,000 without publishing his own estimate.
It is the second time an open letter to the Prime Minister of this kind has been published within the last year.
The group calls on Mr Blair to commission an investigation into the number of dead and injured and to keep counting as long as British soldiers remain in Iraq alongside their American allies.
"Your government is obliged under international humanitarian law to protect the civilian population during military operations in Iraq, and you have consistently promised to do so," the letter says.
The signatories include Sir Timothy Garden, a former air marshall and director of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and Sir Stephen Egerton, a former UK ambassador to Iraq.
The letter came as the number of US troops killed in action in Iraq reached 1,000 yesterday when the military said a soldier had been shot dead on patrol in Baghdad. - (Financial Times Service)