Baghdad, Iraq ? Iraq’s Health Ministry has ordered a halt to a count of civilians killed during the war and told its statistics department not to release figures compiled so far, the official who oversaw the count told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The health minister, Dr. Khodeir Abbas, denied in an e-mail that he had anything to do with the order, saying he didn’t even know about the study.

Dr. Nagham Mohsen, the head of the ministry’s statistics department, said the order was relayed to her by the ministry’s director of planning, Dr. Nazar Shabandar, who said it came on behalf of Abbas. She said the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, which oversees the ministry, also wanted the counting to stop.

“We have stopped the collection of this information because our minister didn’t agree with it,” she said, adding: “The CPA doesn’t want this to be done.”

Abbas, whose secretary said he was out of the country, sent an e-mail denying the charge.

“I have no knowledge of a civilian war casualty survey even being started by the Ministry of Health, much less stopping it,” he wrote. “The CPA did not direct me to stop any such survey, either.”

“Plain and simple, this is false information,” he added.

Despite Abbas’ comments, the health ministry’s civilian death toll count had been reported by news media as early as August, and the count was widely anticipated by human rights organizations. The ministry issued a preliminary figure of 1,764 deaths during the summer.

The U.S. and British militaries don’t count civilian casualties from their wars, saying only that they try to minimize civilian deaths.