The World - News from Sept. 19, 1988

In its first disclosure of casualty figures, Iran said that 123,220 soldiers and 11,000 civilians were killed in its long war with Iraq. Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammed Khatami said in an interview with Tehran Radio that 60,711 other military personnel are listed as missing in action. He said Iran believes many of the missing are prisoners of war. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards suffered the worst casualties, Khatami said--79,664 killed. The minister’s death toll is well below Western estimates of at least 500,000 Iranians killed and as many as 1 million deaths overall in the eight-year war.