'I-Casualties has also started tracking Iraqi civilian and military deaths, relying largely on media reports since the US government says it keeps no record of civilian casualties.

"The counting of civilians is the harder job and in many ways the more strategically fraught task," said Michael O'Hanlon, senior fellow at Brookings.

I-Casualties gives no overall figure for Iraqi casualties and the site says the daily deaths it publishes are only a baseline, noting that actual numbers are higher.

The widely varying published totals by other groups are controversial since they are seen as an index of coalition failure to bring peace to Iraq.

At the separate "Iraq Body Count" website, which relies on media reports, civilian deaths are reported as ranging from a minimum of 51,897 up to 57,452 as of Wednesday.'

from here.