Sept 10 (Reuters) - Following are key statistics and statements given on Monday by Army Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.

Petraeus was testifying before a joint session of the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees of the U.S. House of Representatives.

SECURITY SITUATION

-- "The overall number of security incidents in Iraq has declined in eight of the past 12 weeks, with the numbers of incidents in the last two weeks at the lowest levels seen since June 2006."

-- Overall number of attacks this past week was the lowest since April 2006.

-- Civilian deaths, excluding those due to natural causes, are down by over 45 percent Iraq-wide since the height of sectarian violence in December. They are down by some 70 percent in Baghdad.

-- Ethno-sectarian deaths are down by over 55 percent since last December. In Baghdad, the number of ethno-sectarian deaths is down by some 80 percent since December.

-- Monthly attack levels in Anbar province are down to "a bit" over 200 in August of this year from some 1,350 in October 2006.

-- Number of car bombings and suicide attacks in Iraq is down in each of the past five months, from a high of some 175 in March to about 90 this past month. But "the number of high profile attacks is still too high."

AL QAEDA IN IRAQ

-- "Our operations have ... produced substantial progress against al Qaeda and its affiliates in Iraq ... We have also neutralized five media cells, detained the senior Iraqi leader of al Qaeda-Iraq, and killed or captured nearly 100 other key leaders and some 2,500 rank-and-file fighters."

IRAQI SECURITY FORCES

-- "There are now nearly 140 Iraqi Army, National Police, and Special Operations Forces Battalions in the fight, with about 95 of those capable of taking the lead in operations, albeit with some coalition support."

U.S. TROOP LEVELS

-- Marine Expeditionary Unit of some 2,200 troops, deployed as part of surge of forces this year, to leave Iraq this month as scheduled.

-- Petraeus recommends a brigade combat team -- normally somewhere around 4,000 troops -- leave in mid-December and four other brigade combat teams and two Marine battalions follow in the first seven months of 2008. That would take U.S. troop levels back to around 130,000, the level before the "surge".

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