IraqSlogger.com.

As the images below show, IraqSlogger's sources report no improvement in the average daily electricity supply in the Iraqi capital for the week ending January 12.

In fact, Slogger sources, who report the estimated average daily supply across nine districts in the capital on a weekly basis, have not observed a substantial improvement in the delivery of electricity in Baghdad since early December.

The chart below plots the data reported to IraqSlogger since the beginning of December.

Click here for all of IraqSlogger's exclusive electricity watch coverage, and see the map below for the relative location of each of the nine Baghdad districts.

IraqSlogger.com.

Click to enlarge.

Google Earth image/IraqSlogger.com.

Click to enlarge. Composite satellite image plots average estimated daily power supply in Baghdad districts for week ending Jan. 12.

After several weeks of stable prices in Baghdad, IraqSlogger sources across nine disparate neighborhoods report new trends in prices in several key commodities in the capital, including the black-market price of two key fuels in some neighborhoods.

For the week ending January 12, street prices for auto fuel dropped sharply in four districts, as shown in the table above, while the price of cooking gas on the black market dropped by 9.1% in Baghdad al-Jadida, as compared to last week's report.

Black-market prices for both of the petroleum derivatives remain well above the state-set prices of 400 ID/liter for gasoline and 4000 ID/cylinder for cooking gas. The commodities are often unavailable at these prices in official markets, forcing Baghdad consumers to turn to illicit operations for their energy needs.

This week's update marks the first time since fuel prices spiked in spring and summer of 2007 that auto fuel prices in all nine districts is at or below 800 ID/liter.

While fuel prices dropped in some areas, prices for a carton of Marlboro cigarettes jumped in all nine districts, by as much as over 12 percent in Sha'b, al-'Amil, Harthiya, and Karrada. The jump in cigarette prices in other districts ranges from 5.9 percent in Mansour and Ghazaliya to 9.1 percent in Kadhimiya.

Meanwhile, the price of two staple breads, khubuz and samoun, remained stable, suggesting that the hike in cigarette prices is not due to a generalized inflation.

Click here for all of IraqSlogger's exclusive price check coverage, and see a map of the relative location of the nine districts here.

Marlboros (ID/carton)

Cooking gas (ID/cylinder)

Khubuz bread (ID/piece)

Samoun bread (ID/piece)

Google Earth Image/IraqSlogger.com.

Click to enlarge. Estimated average daily supply of electrical current in nine Baghdad neighborhoods for week ending Jan. 5.

IraqSlogger sources in nine disparate Baghdad neighborhoods report no change in the supply of electricity to homes over the last week, when compared to the last update in late December.

The image above plots the average estimated availability of the power current to homes in the nine districts where Slogger sources track electricity provision each week.

Note that there was no report for the last week of December due to the Muslim and Christian holidays.

Click here for all of IraqSlogger's exclusive data.

Prices in two key black-market fuels were unchanged in the first week of the year as reported by Slogger sources in nine different Baghdad neighborhoods.

As the tables show, for the week ending January 5, on-the-street prices of gasoline, and of cooking fuel, used in food preparation, both remain considerably higher than state-set prices, but do not manifest the price volatility that these two commodities often experienced last year. In fact, in the last report, for the week ending December 22, five of the nine districts where Slogger tracks its data each week showed prices falling by double digits in one or both of the two key fuels.

The official price of gasoline is set by the state at 400 Iraqi dinars (ID) per liter, and the price of cooking fuel is set at 4,000 ID per refillable canister. However, these fuels are often unavailable at state-sanctioned retailers at these rates, forcing Iraqis to turn to the black markets to meet their fuel needs.

Prices for cigarettes and two kinds of staple breads, khubuz and samoun, also remain unchanged since the last report, as show below.

Note that there was no Baghdad prices reporting for the week ending December 29 due to the Muslim and Christian holidays. For all of IraqSlogger's exclusive price check reporting, click here.

Auto fuel (ID/liter)

Cooking gas (ID/cylinder)

Khubuz bread (ID/piece)

Samoun bread (ID/piece)

Iraq Body Count, which monitors Iraqi civilian casualties on the basis of media reports, has released its preliminary tally for 2007 Iraqi civilian deaths.

According to IBC's figures, 2007 was the second most deadly year for Iraqi civilians since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, with the figure for the year running between a minimum of 22,586 to a maximum of 24,159.

Within Iraq, IBC found a general downward trend from month to month in civilian deaths in Baghdad, while civilian deaths climbed each month for the first eight months of the year outside the capital. After September, a sharp drop is seen in the casualty count outside of Baghdad, but IBC notes that after March 2007 civilian deaths outside the capital outnumbered those in Baghdad, for the first time since 2003.

While IBC identifies several interesting aspects of the data in its full discussion of the data, the

Measuring deaths from violence per capita, Diyala province was the most deadly in 2007, with 255 reported civilian deaths from violence per 100,000 inhabitants. The five highest per-capita civilian violent death rates are as follows, according to IBC.

1. Diyala, at 255 violent civilian deaths per 100,000 inhabitants (up 29% from 197/100k in 2006)
2. Baghdad, at 164/100k (down 39% from 267/100k)
3. Anbar, at 122/100k (up 61% from 76/100k)
4. Salah al-Din, at 120/100k (up 26% from 95/100k)
5. Ninewa, at 100/100k (up 143% from 41/100k)

Click here for the full report.