Figures from the Iraqi Health Minister showed that civilian deaths have risen considerably in March, and police and soldier deaths rose even more dramatically. The figures show levels of violence, over eight years after the US invasion, are still disturbingly high.
The data showed 136 civilians killed and 215 wounded. Roughly half of the entire toll came on Tuesday, when a massive attack on a provincial council in Tikrit left 65 civilians dead and over 100 wounded.
Figures from the Defense and Interior Ministry showed much worse rises in tolls for security forces, with Iraqi soldier deaths rising from 33 to 56 and police death more than tripling, from 15 to 55.
Death tolls in Iraq are considerably off the highs at the peak of the US war, but remain among the highest in the world. Officials say that they expect the death tolls to remain more or less flat going forward.
And the violence will continue until Maliki and his security forces have completed the ethnic cleansing that we (the US) unleashed upon the citizens. The incident in Tikrit most likely eliminated some of the opposition bloc to Maliki – besides the fact that they were mostly or all Sunni. And once the cleansing is complete you will likely see the resurgence of Sadr and the downfall of Maliki. And that die was cast long ago when they (the US) didn't eliminate Sadr when they had the chance.