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Hengaw counts 7,650 dead across 27 provinces

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Hengaw human rights organisation

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Key takeaway

One in seven dead were civilians; the war has reached 27 of Iran's 31 provinces.

Hengaw, the Kurdish human rights organisation, published its 10th casualty report on 8 April covering 40 days of war: 7,650 killed, of whom 1,030 were civilians (13.5%) and 189 were minors. Military targets were struck in 196 cities across 27 of Iran's 31 provinces. More than 2,700 wartime arrests are documented. The correction in this briefing, noting the report was on schedule rather than overdue as Briefing #63 stated, matters for source credibility.

Hengaw's methodology uses Kurdistan-based field networks supplemented by hospital records and family reports, the most consistent independent counter to Iranian state figures, which remain unpublished. The roughly weekly cadence has been maintained through the internet blackout, indicating out-of-country verification infrastructure that functions even as domestic connectivity sits at 1% of normal.

The geographic breadth is the most revealing dimension: 27 of 31 provinces means this is a national war, not a border conflict. Kurdish provinces alone saw 290 military sites targeted and 1,630 military deaths. The previous confirmed total of 7,300 through Day 34 has risen by 350 in six days. One in seven of the dead was not fighting.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

A Kurdish human rights group published its count of people killed in 40 days of war: 7,650 dead, of whom 1,030 were ordinary civilians and 189 were children. Military strikes hit cities across nearly every Iranian province. More than 2,700 people have been arrested during the war. This organisation is based partly outside Iran, which is why it can still publish despite the internet blackout.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

The 196-city, 27-province strike distribution reflects the stated US-Israeli campaign objectives: degrading Iran's distributed missile infrastructure, targeting IRGC command and control, and eliminating nuclear-capable facilities.

Unlike the Gulf War's concentrated urban campaign, this conflict's geography is national rather than regional — which is precisely why the 27-of-31-provinces figure matters more than the absolute death count for understanding the campaign's logic.

What could happen next?

Consequence
Hengaw's documentation provides a legal accountability baseline for future proceedings; the 13.5% civilian ratio is within the range courts have previously used to examine proportionality questions under IHL.
Risk
The imagery blackout and internet shutdown mean civilian casualty figures are likely under-counted. The 'floor' that Hengaw documents will rise as the blackout lifts and family reports reach the organisation.

Source Landscape

This story draws on neutral-leaning sources

Primary parallel: The 2003 Iraq War produced Iraq Body Count's civilian casualty tracking as the primary independent counter to US government claims. IBC used a similar methodology — media reports, hospital records, family submissions — and faced similar methodological challenges. Its figures were ultimately vindicated as closer to reality than official US counts.

Counter-parallel: During the 1991 Gulf War, the 40-day air campaign against Iraq produced approximately 2,300 civilian deaths by most independent estimates, with strikes concentrated on Baghdad and Basra. Iran's 40-day figure of 7,650 total deaths across 27 provinces is a different scale of geographic reach.

Consensus view: Hengaw's methodology — Kurdish field networks, hospital records, family reports — is the most consistent independent casualty monitor of the conflict, as assessed by both the International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch. Its roughly weekly cadence through the internet blackout indicates significant out-of-country infrastructure. The 13.5% civilian ratio is the most reliable single data point available.

Counter-view: Iran's government does not publish total casualty figures and has challenged Hengaw's methodology as politically motivated. The IRGC has claimed 'precision targeting' and zero civilian casualties in several strike waves. Independent verification of either figure is impossible under the current imagery blackout (Planet Labs blacked out by US government order since 9 March).

Key tension: The absence of competing verified data means Hengaw's figures are simultaneously the best available and essentially unverifiable. A 13.5% civilian ratio is lower than historical comparisons (Gulf War I: ~25%, Kosovo: ~40%) but higher than the Pentagon's public claims of 'minimal collateral damage'.

Sources:Iran HRM

Mentions:Iraq →Basra →Kosovo →Kurdistan →Baghdad →Hengaw →Planet Labs →International Crisis Group →Iran →Pentagon →Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) →Gulf War →Human Rights Watch →

First Reported In

Update #64 · Islamabad talks open already cracked

Iran HRM· 10 Apr 2026

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Causes and effects

Caused by

Hengaw 10th casualty report now seven days overdue

The growing casualty reporting gap noted in ID:2126 is updated by Hengaw's 10th report confirming 7,650 killed — 350 more than the previous 7,300 count through Day 34.

Occurred 9 Apr 2026

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This Event

Hengaw counts 7,650 dead across 27 provinces

A 13.5% civilian casualty ratio across 196 cities provides the clearest documented picture yet of the war's domestic impact on Iran.

Different Perspectives

Russia

Russia vetoed the same renewal on 17 September, arguing that Britain, France and Germany never validly triggered the snapback that reimposed the pre-2015 UN resolutions. No panel was ever seated under that mandate, so the UN list decays fastest for states that screen against it rather than against the American one.

China

China vetoed renewal of the UN sanctions monitoring mandate on 17 September, arguing that Resolution 2231 terminated on 18 October 2025 and that the Security Council should drop Iran's nuclear file altogether. On that reading there is nothing to monitor, so the sanctions survive and their enforcement does not.

Iraq

Baghdad saw the last American counter-Islamic State troops leave its territory on 30 September, completing a timetable it agreed with Washington in September 2024. Iraqi airspace deconfliction passes to Baghdad, which still has an open inquiry into the Maysan drone launches that has named nobody.

Pakistan

Treasury names Waseem Pasha Tajammal of Rawalpindi as the Cavalier group's chairman and places one of the designated incorporations in Islamabad. QatarEnergy separately told Pakistan that liquefied natural gas cargo cancellations would run through November, so Islamabad carries an enforcement question and a supply gap at once.

Turkey

Treasury named a Cavalier Dynamics company incorporated in Istanbul among the ten nodes it designated on 29 September, and Ankara has published no response. Turkey imported a record 120,000 barrels a day of Indian diesel in August, cutting Russia's share of its diesel imports to 20 per cent.

India

Suraj Yadav, a wiper from Uttar Pradesh, was killed aboard the Cape Dao on 23 September, and 19 of the ship's 20 Indian crew were taken off alive. India's September imports ran at 575,000 barrels a day from Iraq and 566,000 from Saudi Arabia, back to pre-conflict rates.