The number of civilians killed in Iraq fell to 224 in July, the Health Ministry said today, a month in which local forces took control of Iraqi towns and cities from US combat forces for the first time.
In June, 373 Iraqi civilians died violent deaths.
The number of US troops killed in combat also fell -- for the second month in a row -- to four from 10 in June, according to www.icasualties.org website, which collates official data.
Three of those were killed in a rocket or mortar attack in the normally quiet southern city of Basra.
There have been fears that local forces, disbanded and rebuilt from scratch since 2003, would be unable to douse violence more than six years after the US-led invasion, but Iraqi commanders have insisted they are up to the challenge.
US troops continue to operate on the outskirts of cities, trying to disrupt the movements of militant networks. Washington must pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq by 2012, according to a bilateral security pact.
In a sign of the security headaches that still plague Iraq, 31 people were killed when bombs exploded near five Shi'ite mosques across Baghdad on Friday. Iraqis blamed local forces for failing to protect them.
June's spike in the death toll was due to major bombings in Baghdad and Kirkuk -- between them killing about 150 people.
The death toll in July 2008 was 387 civilians.
At least 4,328 US troops have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003, official figures show.
Close to 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq in violence during that time, according to www.iraqbodycount.org.
Reuters