Iraq death toll reaches 650,000

6.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 11th Oct 2006

Liberal Democrats at the London rally against war in Iraq.

The death toll among Iraqis as a result of the US-led invasion has reached an estimated 655,000, a study in the Lancet medical journal reports today. The figure - which amounts to around 2.5% of the population - is at odds with figures cited by the US and UK.

Liberal Democrat Leader, Sir Menzies Campbell said "It is a disgrace that we have no clear idea of the numbers of Iraqi civilians killed since the war began. There is no doubt however that there is a slide towards civil war. Time is running out. There is a desperate need for a new strategy led not by the US, but by the UN, providing for a peace process with a reinvigorated reconstruction programme and concerted international and regional engagement."