islam is the way of life

At least 85,000 people have been killed in Iraq by bombs, murders and fighting from 2004 until 2008, Iraq's human rights ministry says.

The government released the figures on Tuesday in a draft report based on death certificates issued by the health ministry, the Reuters news agency reported.

It said 147,195 people had been wounded in the same four years, but the number of undocumented injuries and deaths could be far higher.

"These figures draw a picture about the impact of terrorism and the violation of natural life in Iraq," the rights ministry said.

'Terrible figures'

"Outlawed groups through terrorist attacks like explosions, assassinations, kidnappings or forced displacements created these terrible figures, which represent a huge challenge for the rule of law and for the Iraqi people."

The report did not distinguish between civilian deaths and others, and a senior government official said the findings did not include missing persons, believed to be around 10,000 people.

It said some 15,000 unidentified bodies were also found within the time period.

"Thousands of Iraqis killed since 2003 without being identified by their relatives were buried in special cemeteries called unidentified body cemeteries," the report said.

The figures in the report are lower than that of the Iraq Body Count project run by a group of academics and peace activists.

The project estimates that 102,071 civilians have died in the violence so far since 2003.