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Surge in number of suicides within UK troops |
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Thursday, 11 January 2007 |
As many as 23 British troops may have committed suicide while or after serving in Iraq up to the end of 2005, according to the latest official figures.
"Between 18 January 2003 and 31 December 2005, there were 17 coroner-confirmed suicides or open verdict deaths among UK regular armed forces deployed on Operation Telic" in Iraq, Defence Minister Derek Twigg said.
In a written parliamentary answer published on Wednesday, Twigg also said that in addition, verdicts had yet to be reached on six more soldiers, who served in Iraq during this period.
Official figures released last November showed a surge of 20 per cent to 1,897 in the number of troops diagnosed with mental conditions in the first six months of last year.
Twigg said that that the data represented a "crude rate of 8.7 suicides and open verdict deaths per 100,000 person-years-at-risk for those who were deployed at some time to Operation Telic."
He also said that there were a further 40 suicides or open verdict deaths among soldiers who were not deployed on Operation Telic in the three year period and 19 other deaths thought to be due to violent or unnatural causes, excluding accidents.
With regard to British soldiers fighting in Afghanistan, the minister said that there have been "no coroner-confirmed suicides or open verdict deaths" among personnel deployed there.
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