Jackson Jambalaya

CBS News reported the Iranian government killed over 12,000 of its own people as it tries to remain in power: 

Information trickling out of Iran on Tuesday suggests that a crackdown by authorities to end more than two weeks of widespread anti-government protests has likely been far more deadly than activists outside the country have reported. With phone lines opening back up for calls from inside the Islamic Republic, two sources, including one inside Iran, told CBS News on Tuesday that at least 12,000, and possibly as many as 20,000 people have been killed.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said in Parliament on Tuesday that the U.K. government believed there "may have been 2,000 people killed, there have been more. My fear is that the number may prove to be significantly higher...."

A source inside Iran who was able to call out told CBS News on Tuesday that activist groups working to compile a full death toll from the protests, based on reports from medical officials across the country, believed the toll was at least 12,000, and possibly as high as 20,000.

The same source said security forces were visiting the many private hospitals across Tehran, threatening staff to hand over the names and addresses of those being treated for injuries sustained in the protests.

CBS News has not been able to independently verify the massive death toll indicated by the source, which is some many times larger than the numbers reported by most activist groups independently in recent days — though those groups have always made it clear that their tallies are likely underestimated.

The opposition Iran International television network said Tuesday that its information suggested about 12,000 people were killed. A source in Washington with contacts in Iran told CBS News on Tuesday that a credible source had told him the toll was likely between 10,000 and 12,000.

Iranian officials have not provided regular official estimates of overall deaths from the unrest. Reuters quoted an unnamed Iranian official Tuesday as saying about 2,000 people had been killed since the protests began on Dec. 28, and blaming the violence on foreign influenced "terrorists," even suggesting that agitators had been paid to foment chaos.

CBS News has verified that video posted online Tuesday shows the bodies of at least 366 and likely more than 400 people killed amid the protest piled up at a morgue in a Tehran suburb. The video appears to show forensic personnel documenting gruesome injuries on the bodies, and crowds of people seemingly trying to identify the dead. The injuries visible are extensive and include gunshot wounds, "birdshot" shotgun wounds, gashes and other severe injuries.  Rest of article.