2002-01-04 (Friday) - 11:18 a.m.

"Prof Marc Herold, of the departments of economics and women's studies at the University of New Hampshire, has published his estimate of the number of civilians killed in the bombardment of Afghanistan by US forces from October 7th, when the bombing started, to December 7th.

"He relied only on official news agency reports, major newspapers in the US, Britain, Pakistan and India, and broadcast organisations, notably the BBC. He has calculated that in the period covered by his research the number of people killed has been 3,767, an average of 62 civilians per day. The total is well in excess of the number of people killed in the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on September 11th (that figure is now estimated at around 3,100).

"Assuming that the average killing rate has been maintained since December 7th, the total number of civilians killed in Afghanistan is now (as of New Year's Day) 5,317," writes Vincent Browne in Wednesday's edition of The Irish Times.

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micah

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