Conversely, the number of coalition casualties remains amazingly low.
In fact, given the nature of the operation, coalition casualties have been light. (In a battle for Nasiriya with the Ottomans in 1915, the overconfident British, whose supply lines were also stretched thin, lost 500 men.) Iraq has suffered an unknown but far higher number of combat casualties: several hundred Iraqis were reportedly killed in an engagement at Najaf on March 25th-26th.
There were no British casualties and there was no word from coalition forces on any Iraqi casualties.
The coalition forces have recently taken casualties at a much lower rate than at the peak of the insurgency in April.
It was also an attempt by coalition forces to minimize Iraqi casualties.
Al-Sahaf, speaking mostly in English for the first time since the war began, issued a list of civilian areas he said the coalition had bombarded, enumerating casualties in villages and neighborhoods.
The coalition has not confirmed any civilian casualties, citing the ongoing investigation.
The RDAs were one of the first casualties of the incoming coalition government's spending cuts and its drive against what many Conservatives dismissed as "unaffordable quangos".
While the U.S.-led coalition is still investigating the reports of civilian casualties, a U.S. military official expressed doubt about the high death toll.
Coalition forces repelled the attack, inflicting "heavy enemy casualties, " and calling in airstrikes, the alliance said.
CNN: 8 U.S. troops killed in battle with militants in Afghanistan
The U.S.-led military coalition, in a statement issued Wednesday, said the casualties occurred in an "unprovoked attack" by about 25 insurgents in southeastern Afghanistan near Deh Chopan in Zabul province on Tuesday.
Last month, Karzai insisted that the coalition forces cease all airstrikes, after a NATO assault caused civilian casualties.
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