I think you can find how I arrived at the number of those killed in my post #262 on this FR thread. This was written in reply to my old buddy Trop, so it's kinda chatty and detailed. Sorry. Gee, I miss old Trop!
Again, I caution that my 5,000 - 7,000 figure is a conservative one, and that it includes both Op Flash (former Sector West, May 1995) and Op Storm (former Sectors North and South, August 1995), and the civilians killed in aftermath of both operations. It also includes civilians killed and military killed in battle. (The military killed in battle doesn't change the figure that much.)
Also, while this is far below the number killed estimated in the "missing never found" rosters, I don't see how you expect to convince JCB. If he wants to believe only 500 or whatever were killed, that's his perogative.
Interesting thread. Thanks for the ping!