Although our entire database is available online in disaggregated form, IBC provides an aggregate view at least once a year, partly to highlight trends.
Current trends are among the most alarming since we began recording civilian casualties in 2003.
First published 1 Jan 2015
2014 Summary
From 2013 to 2014, the age-adjusted death rate for the total population declined 1.0%, and life expectancy at birth remained unchanged at 78.8 years. In 2014, a total of 2,626,418 resident deaths were registered in the United States. The age-adjusted death rate declined for. The following is a list of notable deaths in August 2014.For notable deaths before the current month, please see 'Previous months'.Name, age, country of citizenship and reason for notability, cause of death, reference (must be added) are added.
17,049 civilians have been recorded killed in Iraq during 2014 (up to Dec 30). This is roughly double the number recorded in 2013 (9,743), which in turn was roughly double the number in 2012 (4,622). These numbers do not include combatant deaths, which even by the most cautious tallies have also seen a sharp rise in 2014.
The conflict in Iraq that began with the US/UK invasion of March 2003 has continued now for nearly twelve years. During this period, not a single day has passed without Iraqi civilians being killed. The year 2014, however, reflects an increase in violence to levels not seen since the worst years of 2006 and 2007. The rise of the group Islamic State (or ISIS or ISIL) as a major force in the conflict, as well as the military responses by the Iraqi Government and the re-entry of US and Coalition air forces into the conflict, have all contributed to the elevated death tolls.
1. Civilians killed in 2014, and compared with earlier years
During 2014 Iraq Body Count (IBC) recorded 17,049 civilian deaths from violence. This is the third highest civilian death toll after 2006 and 2007, and some months exceeding even those years’.
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 531 | 357 | 1076 |
| February | 356 | 360 | 930 |
| March | 377 | 403 | 1009 |
| April | 392 | 545 | 1013 |
| May | 304 | 888 | 1027 |
| June | 529 | 659 | 2534 |
| July | 469 | 1145 | 1481 |
| August | 422 | 1013 | 1592 |
| September | 400 | 1306 | 1956 |
| October | 290 | 1180 | 1797 |
| November | 253 | 903 | 1468 |
| December | 299 | 983 | 1166 |
| Totals | 4622 | 9742 | 17049 |
While the post-invasion period in Iraq has never been free of conflict-related violence and associated civilian casualties, the years 2010-2012 saw a relative reduction in levels of violence, with annual civilian death tolls ranging from 4,116 to 4,622, and the monthly rate ranging from a low of 218 to a high of 529. (Those three years nonetheless saw more than 2,500 deadly bombing incidents, an average of two a day.) This relative stability ended in early-to-mid 2013, after which the death tolls have sometimes risen dramatically.
The Little Death 2014 Cast
There has been no monthly civilian death toll lower than 900 since July 2013, with most being much higher: June (2,534), September (1,956) and October (1,796) being higher than any monthly toll since 2007 (and each in fact higher than the equivalent month in 2007). And as at the end of 2014, the monthly average for the second half of the year – that is, excluding the June peak – stands at over 1,500.
Death 2013
That June peak of 2,534 was the month that marked the beginning of the ISIS offensive. Actions by, and by others in reaction to, ISIS appear only to have worsened an existing trend in rising civilian casualties.
2. Geographic distribution in 2014
The greatest number of deaths have been in Baghdad, Ninewa, Salah al-Din and Anbar provinces (governorates), which between them accounted for close to 80% of civilian deaths. Baghdad had the highest number of deaths, with 4,767 civilians recorded killed this year, while Anbar had over 3,600 civilians killed, half of them (1,748) by the Iraqi military in daily air strikes, primarily in and around Falluja. In Salah al-Din and Ninewa civilian killings by ISIS have contributed significantly to the death toll. All four of these provinces have seen a marked increase in the number of deaths over 2013, with Baghdad almost doubling and the other three provinces more than doubling.
BAGHDAD: 4,767
ANBAR: 3,623
SALAH AL DIN: 2,550
NINEWA: 2,367
3. Perpetrators: Deaths identified as caused by coalition or Iraqi airstrikes, and ISIS action.
Among the 17,049 civilians recorded killed, many deaths were attributable to the actions of specific armed groups while the perpetrators of many killings remain unknown. 1,748 civilians were reported killed by Iraqi military air strikes, while 4,325 were killed by ISIS. A further 10,858 civilians were reported killed by unidentified actors, where it has not been possible to establish which of the major actors, or possibly other, less well-identified groups, were involved. 118 civilians were reported killed by US-Coalition air strikes, the first time since 2011 that civilian deaths have been directly attributable to US-Coalition actions.
4. Combatants killed: Rough totals, and a discussion of the large variation.
Deaths among Iraqi military and among insurgent groups such as ISIS have increased dramatically in 2014, in relation to previous years. Besides a clear increase in total numbers, 2014 has also seen for the first time a sharp divergence in reported totals of combatant deaths between some of the common sources that have been used to track casualties in the conflict for many years. Some of these sources include the daily tracking by Agence-France Presse (AFP), official statistics released by Iraqi government ministries, and aggregated media reports. In past years, numbers from these sources have varied, with some higher or lower than others for any given time period or category of casualties, but have usually not been very far apart. 2014 has seen a wide gulf emerge in the totals for combatant deaths, with totals from AFP and official statistics suggesting roughly 4,000-5,000 combatants killed during the year, while aggregated media reports on the other hand, with each report of combatant deaths taken at face value, suggesting totals of roughly 30,000.
It is not possible for us to say at present what number in this range is correct or most credible, in part because IBC has not analysed the reporting on combatants in as much detail as we do with civilians, but also due to considerable uncertainty with the reliability of some of the reports. The lower range of 4-5,000 is likely too low due to limitations in information gathering. On the other hand, we think that a face value total of approximately 30,000 derived from aggregated media reports is likely too high.
Many of the media reports that make up this total rely either on military sources in the field providing numbers for ISIS/insurgent deaths, or on ISIS/insurgent sources providing numbers for military deaths. At the same time, it is clear from many of these reports that the numbers reported are often not precise “body counts” tied directly to specific incidents or specific victims, as is typically the case with civilian deaths, but rather are rough estimates of how many enemy fighters were killed in a particular operation, or over a given time-frame. These estimates generally originate from parties with an interest in advancing the perception that they are making significant gains over their enemy, and may therefore be prone to exaggeration.
For such reasons, the most that can currently be said is that reporting on combatant deaths during 2014 ranges from about 4,000 to 30,000. The truth probably lies somewhere between these two numbers, but neither can be ruled out at present.
5. Total deaths in 2014 (civilian and combatant) and cumulative total since 2003
Combining the 17,000 civilian deaths recorded by IBC with the above wide range of combatant deaths of 4,000-30,000, suggests a total of between 21,000 and 47,000 people have been killed in war-related violence in Iraq during 2014, making it one of the three worst years of the conflict that began nearly twelve years ago.
1 For a discussion of these figures and how they were derived, see IBC's original version of this table.
Total cumulative reported deaths for the entire period 2003-2014 passed 200,000 during 2014, and presently stand at 206,000 using the more conservative end of the range for combatant deaths in 2014. Over 150,000 (around 75%) of these were civilian. 1
| Iraq Body Count 2003-2014 | 150,772 |
|---|---|
| Iraq War Logs new 'Civilian' and comparable 'Host Nation' remaining 2004-2009 - central estimate | 9,720 |
| Iraq War Logs ‘Host Nation’ combatant 2004-2009 - central estimate | 5,575 |
| Iraq War Logs ‘Enemy’ (minus IBC overlaps) 2004-2009 - central estimate | 20,499 |
| Iraqi combatants killed March-May 2003 | 4,895 |
| Insurgents killed June-December 2003 | 597 |
| Insurgents killed May 2004 | 652 |
| Insurgents & Iraqi soldiers killed March 2009 | 59 |
| Insurgents & Iraqi soldiers killed 2010–2014 | 7,948 |
| TOTAL IRAQI | 200,717 |
| US & Coalition military killed 2003–2014 | 4,807 |
| US & Coalition foreign contractors killed 2003–2014 | 468 |
| TOTAL | 205,992 |
Concluding remarks
There is a new brutality on the ground and renewed attacks from the air. ISIS and the Iraqi army have caused thousands of civilian deaths this year, while the international coalition has yet again been responsible for civilian killings, for the first time since US withdrawal three years previously. Iraqi civilians are once again being killed by all sides.
As the pattern of violence shows, following the withdrawal of US troops at the end of 2011 and the subsequent implementation of anti-Sunni policies by the Iraqi government, between 2012 and 2013 the death toll more than doubled. In 2014, largely in connection with the rise of ISIS and the military response to it, the death toll has nearly doubled again, making 2014 the third most lethal for civilians (after 2006 and 2007) since the 2003 invasion. The continuing killing of civilians has marked the entire period from 2003-2014: sometimes rising, sometimes falling, but never ceasing.
Stays and Executions in 2014
| Date of Scheduled Execution | State | Inmate | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
January | |||
7 | FL | Askari Muhammad | Executed. |
9 | OK | Michael Wilson | Executed. |
15 | TX | Rigoberto Avila | Stayed to allow time for appeals. |
15 | TN | Billy Irick | Stayed to allow time to challenge Tennessee’s new one-drug lethal injection protocol. Rescheduled for Oct. 7, 2014. |
16 | OH | Dennis McGuire | Executed. McGuire took 26 minutes to die in this botched execution. |
22 | TX | Edgar Tamayo | Executed. |
23 | OK | Kenneth Hogan | Executed. |
28 | PA | Robert Rega | Legally premature death warrant. Stay granted by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on December 17, 2013 to permit Rega to pursue habeas corpus appeals available to all defendants as a matter of federal law. |
29 | PA | Laquaille Bryant | Legally premature death warrant. Stay granted by the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on December 17, 2013 to permit Bryant to pursue post-conviction appeals available to all defendants as a matter of state law. |
29 | MO | Herbert Smulls | Executed. Temporarily stayed by the Supreme Court. Stay lifted by Supreme Court without explanation on 1/29 and Smulls was executed. |
February | |||
4 | DE | Gary Ploof | Stay granted pending resolution of a federal habeas corpus appeal filed earlier this year. |
5 | LA | Christopher Sepulvado | Stayed 90 days to allow time to determine whether Louisiana’s switch to a 2-drug lethal injection protocol could violate Sepulvado’s constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment. |
5 | TX | Suzanne Basso | Executed. |
12 | FL | Juan Chavez | Executed. |
26 | MO | Michael Taylor | Executed. |
26 | FL | Paul Howell | Executed. |
March | |||
13 | PA | Donte Thomas | Legally premature death warrant. Stay granted by the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on February 6, 2014 to permit Thomas to pursue state post-conviction appeals available to all defendants as a matter of state law. |
19 | OH | Gregory Lott | Stay granted to allow time to review lethal injection procedures. |
19 | TX | Ray Jasper | Executed. |
20 | FL | Robert Henry | Executed. |
22 | OK | Clayton Lockett | Stayed until April 22 to allow time to find a supply of lethal injection drugs. |
26 | MS | Charles Crawford | Stay granted as execution date had not been affirmed by state court. |
26 | MO | Jeffrey Ferguson | Executed. |
27 | OK | Charles Warner | Stayed until April 29 to allow time to find a supply of lethal injection drugs. |
27 | MS | Michelle Byrom | Stay granted as execution date had not been affirmed by state court. The Mississippi Supreme Court subsequently overturned Michelle Byrom’s murder conviction and death sentence for numerous constitutional violations, including inadequate representation, critical evidence not presented to the jury, confessions by another defendant, and the prosecution’s lack of confidence in its own story of what actually happened. Byrom later pled guilty to lesser charges to avoid a retrial and was released. |
27 | TX | Anthony Doyle | Executed. |
April | |||
3 | TX | Tommy Sells | Executed. Stay of execution initially granted by federal district court, which ruled that Texas’ failure to disclose details about the drugs it intends to use for executions violated Sells’ constitutional rights. The decision was reversed and the stay lifted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. |
9 | TX | Ramiro Hernandes | Executed. Stay of execution initially granted by federal district court, which ruled that Texas’ failure to disclose details about the drugs it intends to use for executions violated Sells’ constitutional rights. The decision was reversed and the stay lifted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. |
16 | PA | Stephen Edmiston | Legally premature death warrant. Stay granted by U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on February 25, 2014 to prevent execution before Edmiston could obtain federal habeas corpus review of his conviction and sentence to which he was entitled as a matter of law. |
16 | TX | Jose Villegas | Executed. |
22 | TN | Nickolaus Johnson | Stay of execution granted. Granted post-conviction relief. |
22 | OK | Clayton Lockett | The Oklahoma Supreme Court stayed the execution to allow time to hold a hearing on Lockett’s lawsuit over the state’s secrecy surrounding its lethal injection drugs. Update - stay was lifted and execution was rescheduled for April 29. |
23 | MO | William Rousan | Executed. |
23 | FL | Robert Hendrix | Executed. |
29 | OK | Clayton Lockett | Executed. Update - 43 minutes into botched execution, Lockett died from a heart attack. |
29 | OK | Charles Warner | The Oklahoma Supreme Court stayed the execution to allow time to hold a hearing on Warner’s lawsuit over the state’s secrecy surrounding its lethal injection drugs. Update - stay was lifted. Update - execution was stayed for two weeks due to problems with Lockett’s execution, further stay likely. Update - execution was stayed by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals until November 13 to allow time for the ongoing investigation into the botched execution of Clayton Lockett. |
May | |||
13 | TX | Robert Campbell | Stay granted by U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on May 13, 2014 to consider claim of intellectual disability. |
21 | TX | Robert Pruett | Stay granted to allow more time for appeals. |
21 | MO | Russell Bucklew | Stay granted by U.S. Supreme Court pending the outcome of an appeal before the 8th Circuit. |
29 | TX | Edgardo Cubas | Stayed indefinitely to evaluate mental competency. |
June | |||
17 | GA | Marcus Wellons | Executed. |
18 | MO | John Winfield | Executed. Stayed on June 12 because of state interference with the clemency process. However, the stay was lifted and Winfield was executed on June 18. |
18 | PA | Lewis Jordan | Legally premature death warrant. Stay granted by the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on May 5, 2014 to permit Jordan to pursue state post-conviction appeals to which all Pennsylvania prisoners are entitled as a matter of law. |
18 | FL | John Henry | Executed. |
July | |||
2 | OH | Ronald Phillips | Stay granted as a result of court order blocking all Ohio executions until August 15. UPDATE - rescheduled to Sept. 18. UPDATE - rescheduled to February 11, 2015 |
10 | GA | Tommy Waldrip | Commuted to a sentence of life without parole by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. |
10 | FL | Eddie Davis | Executed. |
16 | MO | John Middleton | Executed. Intially stayed to allow time to examine claims of mental illness. The stay was subsequently lifted and Middleton was executed on July 16. |
23 | AZ | Joseph Wood | Executed. Stayed pending state’s release of execution information. UPDATE: Stay lifted by US Supreme Ct. on July 22. Execution botched - took nearly two hours before Wood died. |
August | |||
6 | OH | William Montgomery | Stay granted as a result of court order blocking all Ohio executions until January 15, 2015. New Date Set |
6 | TX | Manuel Vasquez | Stay granted to permit filing of clemency petition and adjudication of final appeal. |
6 | MO | Michael Worthington | Executed. |
10 | MO | Leon Taylor | No reason given. Attorneys asked for more time for an appeal. |
20 | PA | Patrick Stollar | Legally premature death warrant. Stay granted by the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on July 1, 2014 to permit Stollar to pursue state post-conviction appeals to which all Pennsylvania prisoners are entitled as a matter of law. |
21 | PA | Glenn Lyons | Legally premature death warrant. Stay granted by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on July 8, 2014 to permit Lyons to pursue state and federal post-conviction appeals to which all Pennsylvania prisoners are entitled as a matter of law. |
September | |||
10 | MO | Earl Ringo | Executed. |
10 | TX | Wiliie Trottie | Executed. |
17 | TX | Lisa Coleman | Executed. |
18 | OH | Ronald Phillips | Stay granted as a result of court order blocking all Ohio executions until January 15, 2015. New Date Set. |
22 | PA | Hubert Michael | Stay granted by U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on August 15, 2014 to allow more time for a federal judicial review. Reprieve issued by Governor Tom Corbett on September 12, 2014 because of a lack of execution drugs. The Third Circuit granted a second stay on October 23, 2014 to provide the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections more time “to complete the acquisition of injection agents as mandated by statute.” |
October | |||
7 | TN | Billy Irick | Stayed to allow more time for appeals regarding the lethal injection protocol. |
14 | PA | Michael Parrish | Legally premature death warrant. Stay granted by the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas on September 4, 2014 to permit Parrish to pursue state post-conviction appeals to which all Pennsylvania prisoners are entitled as a matter of law. |
15 | OH | Raymond Tibbetts | Stay granted as a result of court order blocking all Ohio executions until January 15, 2015. New Date Set. |
15 | TX | Larry Hatten | Stayed to allow time for a previous appeal to be decided. |
28 | TX | Miguel Parades | Executed. |
29 | MO | Mark Christeson | Stay granted by U.S. Supreme Court to consider petition regarding quality of representation during appeals. |
November | |||
13 | OK | Charles Warner | Stayed to allow the state to obtain drugs and train staff on new protocols. (Update: New Date Set) |
13 | PA | Miguel Padilla | Legally premature death warrant. Stay granted by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on October 3, 2014 to permit Padilla to pursue state and federal post-conviction appeals to which all Pennsylvania prisoners are entitled as a matter of law. |
13 | FL | Chadwick Banks | Executed. |
19 | OH | Gregory Lott | Stay granted as a result of court order blocking all Ohio executions until January 15, 2015. New Date Set. |
19 | MO | Leon Taylor | Executed. |
20 | OK | Richard Glossip | Stayed to allow the state to obtain drugs and train staff on new protocols. (Update: New Date Set) |
26 | IN | William Gibson | Stayed to allow more time for appeals. |
December | |||
2 | PA | Michael Ballard | Legally premature death warrant. Stay granted by the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas on November 18, 2014 pending the outcome of a legal challenge to Pennsylvania’s lethal injection methods. |
3 | PA | Richard Baumhammers | Legally premature death warrant. Stay granted by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on October 7, 2014 to permit Baumhammers to pursue federal habeas corpus appeals to which all prisoners are entitled as a matter of law. |
3 | TX | Scott Panetti | Stayed to allow time to review recently filed appeals. |
4 | DE | James Cooke | Stayed to allow more time for appeals. |
4 | OK | John Grant | Stayed to allow the state to obtain drugs and train staff on new protocols. (Update: New Date Set) |
4 | PA | Robert Flor | Legally premature death warrant. Stayed by the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas on October 31, 2014 to permit Flor to pursue state post-conviction appeals to which all Pennsylvania prisoners are entitled as a matter of law. |
9 | TN | Ed Zagorski | Stayed to allow time for appeals regarding Tennessee’s execution methods. |
9 | GA | Robert Holsey | Executed. |
10 | MO | Paul Goodwin | Executed. |
11 | TX | Robert Ladd | Stayed due to an issue with the warrant. |
*On September 5, 2014, the Ohio State Department of Rehabilitation Corrections revised its execution schedule for all death sentences previously scheduled from March 2014 and beyond. This was done in order to comply with the August 6, 2014 Federal Court ruling that no executions could be carried out until at least January 2015. The court imposed this moratorium in order to compel a review of Ohio’s lethal injection protocol.
Executions Overview
Jan 07, 2021
Stars That Died In 2014
Stays of Execution in 2020