Afghan civilian deaths hit new high: United Nations

The people of war-torn Afghanistan continue to bear the brunt of the grinding conflict with civilian deaths at their worst since records began, the United Nations said on July 17.

Deaths in the capital Kabul accounted for nearly 20 percent of the toll, according to the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) report, which covers the first half of the year.

 The majority of the victims were killed by anti-government forces -- including the resurgent Taliban and in attacks claimed by the Islamic State, the report said, underscoring spiraling insecurity in the country nearly 16 years after the U.S. invasion.

The U.N. has documented civilian casualties in the war-torn country since 2009.

The first six months of the year have seen a significant rise in the number of civilian lives lost in highly coordinated attacks involving more than one perpetrator, with 259 killed and 892 injured -- a 15 percent increase on the same period last year.

Many of those deaths happened in a single attack in Kabul in late May when a truck bomb exploded during the morning rush hour, killing more than 150 people and injuring hundreds.

UNAMA put the civilian death toll at 92, saying it was the deadliest incident to hit the country since 2001.
The U.N.'s special envoy to Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamamoto said the human cost of the conflict remains "far too high."

"The continued use of indiscriminate, disproportionate and illegal improvised explosive devices is particularly appalling and must immediately stop," he added in a statement.

The bloody toll of the first six months of 2017 has unsettled the government of President Ashraf Ghani, who has come under increasing pressure since the May attack in Kabul.