Figures compiled by the defence, interior and health ministries indicated that 151 people -- 89 civilians, 41 police and 21 soldiers -- were killed in December 2010.

According to an AFP tally based on figures from the three ministries released over the course of 2010, a total of 3,605 Iraqi civilians, police and army personnel were killed last year -- 124 more than the 3,481 who were killed in 2009.

While the total number of people killed was higher for 2010 than the previous year, the number of civilians killed in violence dropped significantly from 2009 to 2010.

According to AFP's tally, a total of 2,505 civilians were killed in 2010 -- down 295 from 2,800 the year before.

The rise in the 2010 death toll was due to an increased number of security force personnel killed -- 215 more policemen and 204 more army members than the previous year.

Iraqi security forces have been increasingly on their own as the US has decreased the number of troops it has in the country and shifted its focus from combat to training and advising Iraqi troops.

The official statistics released on Saturday also show that 271 people were wounded in December -- 114 civilians, 77 police and 80 soldiers.

That brings the total number of wounded for 2010 to 7,713 -- significantly lower than the previous year's total of 10,562.

The total death toll for December was the lowest since November 2009, and the fifth month in a row with a lower death toll than the one before.

A preliminary report released on December 30 by Iraq Body Count (IBC), an independent Britain-based group, gave a significantly higher number of civilian deaths, but also said the number of civilians killed in 2010 had declined from the previous year.

The IBC report said that 3,976 civilians were killed in Iraq violence through December 25, 2010 -- down 704 from a total of 4,680 the year before, meaning that the number of civilian deaths for 2010 was set to be the lowest since the US-led invasion of 2003.

However, attacks remain commonplace. "2010 averaged nearly two explosions a day by non-state forces that caused civilian deaths (675 explosions killing 2,605)," the report said.

And 2010 saw one of the deadliest attacks on Christians, with 44 worshippers and two priests killed in an October 31 massacre at a Baghdad cathedral.

On Thursday, at least two Christians were killed and 16 others wounded in a wave of bomb attacks on Christian targets in Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who was approved by parliament for a second term of office along with a national unity cabinet on December 21 after more than nine months of political deadlock, has cited security as one of his top three priorities.

earlier related report
Wave of Baghdad bombings kills Christians
Baghdad (AFP) Dec 31, 2010 - A wave of bomb attacks in Iraq's capital has killed two Christians and wounded 16, further stoking fears in a community already terrified after a massacre at a church there two months ago.

Fifteen bombs were placed at different Christian homes late on Thursday, an interior ministry official said on Friday.

"Two Christians were killed and 16 wounded" by the 11 bombs that went off, while security forces carried out controlled detonations of the other four, the official said.

The only deadly attack killed Fawzi Ibrahim, 80, and his wife Janet in Al-Ghadir in central Baghdad, where a number of Christians reside.

The couple had lived in the house with another family of Chaldean Catholics, said a neighbour, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"At about 7:00 pm (1600 GMT), they found a bag placed at the gate. One of the residents of the house thought it belonged to Mrs Ibrahim, but when she opened it with her husband, a bomb hidden inside exploded," said the neighbour.

The explosion killed the couple and wounded three other Ibrahim family members.

"The couple had lived here for 40 years, and all the residents of the area loved them," the neighbour said.

Thirty minutes later another bomb exploded in Al-Ghadir under Zaher Sami Dawood's car, which was parked outside the house where he lives with his parents.

Shrapnel punched through the roof of the car, but a wall around the family's house shielded it and its occupants.

"We never intended to flee, but since yesterday, we are afraid," said Zaher's mother Amira, with tears in her eyes.

"We have nowhere to go, but we cannot stay here," she said.

Most of the bombs, which targeted Christian homes in seven different parts of the city, were in the central district of Karrada, the interior ministry official said.

Three devices wounded three Christians there, and all four of the controlled detonations were also in Karrada.

Another bomb targeted a house in Al-Ilam neighbourhood in southern Baghdad, wounding one person, two bombs wounded four people in Dora, south of the city, and one bomb in Saidiya, also in the south, wounded two people.

Another device targeted a Christian home in Yarmuk in western Baghdad, wounding one. A house in Khadra, also in the west of the city, was targeted by a bomb that wounded two people.

"It's a mess. It shows the incapability of the government to restore security," said Father Yousef Thomas Mirkis, the head of the Dominican order in Iraq.

"It is very difficult to understand why people attack the Christians, because we do not have any political power and we are not a threat," he said.

Father Saad Sirop Hanna, the head priest at a Chaldean Catholic church in central Baghdad, said "the purpose of these attacks is to threaten the Christians and force them to flee from Iraq."

The US embassy in Baghdad denounced the bombings.

"We condemn the attacks," said embassy spokesman David Ranz.

The bombings came almost two months to the day after an October 31 attack by militants on Our Lady of Salvation church in central Baghdad, which left the 44 worshippers, two priests and seven security forces members dead.

Al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack and made new threats against Christians.

It said the attack was to force the release of two women in Egypt who had allegedly converted to Islam and who they said were being held hostage by the Coptic Church there.

Ten days after the church massacre, a string of bomb and mortar attacks targeting the homes of Christians in Baghdad killed six people and wounded 33 others.

On December 21, Chaldean Catholic archbishop Monsignor Louis Sarko said in Kirkuk that he "and 10 other Christian personages received threats from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq."

On Christmas Day, both the speaker of parliament, Osama al-Nujaifi, and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki urged Christians, hundreds of thousands of whom have fled abroad amid unrest since the 2003 US-led invasion, to stay in Iraq.

"Iraqis don't want the sound of the (church) bells to stop," Nujaifi said.

And Maliki said: "We strongly call on (Christians) to stay in their country, to commit to their country and participate in building and reconstructing it."

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