BAGHDAD, Jan 3 (Agencies): Iraq reported Tuesday that about 12,000 civilians were killed last year - the third full year since the US-led invasion - with a dramatic rise in the last three months, when 5,000 died.
Only about half as many Iraqi soldiers died in 2006 as American troops.
But the number of Iraqi security forces killed jumps to 1,543, nearly double the American death count of 823 for the year, when the deaths of police, who conduct paramilitary operations, are added to the number of slain Iraqi soldiers.
In all, the Iraqi ministries of Health, Defense and Interior reported a total of 13,896 Iraqi civilians, police and soldiers died last year, 162 more than the tally kept by a news agency.
The count, assembled from its daily news reports, was always believed to be substantially lower than the actual number of deaths because the news cooperative does not have daily access to official accounting by the Iraqi ministries.
Many deaths were thought to have gone unreported by the news agency.
Counts kept by other groups, including the United Nations, list far higher death tolls, which are disputed by the Iraqi government.
While the US government and military provide no death totals for Iraqis, the UN Assistance Ministry for Iraq, UNAMI, does keep a count based on reports it gathers from the Baghdad morgue, Ministry of Health, and Medico-Legal Institute.
The figures for November and December are not yet available from the UN, but as of the end of October the organization had reported 26,782 deaths in the first 10 months of 2006, nearly double what the Iraqi government and the AP reported for the entire year.
Goan maid disappears in England DUBAI, Jan 3 (UNI):: British police are investigating the mystery of a Goan maid who disappeared while on a visit to England with her Bahraini employer.
Maria Pereira, 46, has not been seen since December 3 when she was dropped at a church.
Police have searched the Bahraini couple's home in England and sent out divers to River Thames.
Police suspect that Ms Pereira might have returned to Bahrain or her native Goa.
The mother-of-three had worked for the Bahraini couple for several years and had travelled with them to England on various occasions.