The bloodiest months were May and July, coinciding respectively with the setting up of the new government and the start of constitutional talks, according to figures released Sunday by the defence, interior and health ministries.

Since January, 2,072 civilians were killed in politically-motivated acts of violence, along with 308 Iraqi soldiers and 765 policemen.

A total of 434 civilians, 150 policemen and 88 soldiers were killed in May, and 412 civilians, 134 policemen and 45 soldiers in July.

In addition, 855 insurgents have been killed since the start of the year.

The US deaths brought the total number of US military personnel who have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 1,793 according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.

Earlier this month, a study by two British groups -- Iraq Body Count and the Oxford Research Group -- had put the number of Iraqi civilians killed since US forces invaded the country at about 25,000.

The estimate of 24,865 deaths covered a two-year period between March 2003 and March 2005.

This toll was considerably lower than that of 98,000 suggested in a study published last October by British-based medical journal The Lancet.

The Iraq Body Count-Oxford Research report attributed 37 percent of civilian deaths to foreign forces and nine percent to insurgents.

However, a further 11 percent of deaths were attributed to "unknown agents," meaning suicide bombs and other attacks not directly aimed at foreign or official Iraqi targets, but possibly still intended to destabilise society.

The report also highlighted "extraordinary" levels of criminal violence, recording almost 9,000 deaths -- more than a third of the total -- not directly related to the occupation and insurgency.