RIA Novosti, December 16, 2012

UN reports 28% increase in Afghan civilian casualties

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a new report on Friday saying that at least 967 civilians were killed and 1,590 others were injured within the third quarter of the year

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan increased by 28 percent between August 1 and October 31 this year, compared to the same period of last year, a recent United Nations report said.

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a new report on Friday saying that at least 967 civilians were killed and 1,590 others were injured within the third quarter of the year.

According to the report, militants are responsible for 80 percent of the civilian casualties, while only 6 percent resulted from the Afghan security forces operations. A death cause for 10 percent of them remains unclear.

"Armed clashes and improvised explosive devices constituted the majority of incidents," the report said. Some 13,431 civilians were reported as killed in Afghanistan by August since UN started tracking the deaths in 2007.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is scheduled to pull out the majority of its 130,000 forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

About 2,000 US militaries and 1,190 coalition troops have died since the Afghan war began 2001, according to iCasualties.org, an independent organization that tracks the deaths.

Afghan villagers look at the bodies of women killed by NATO air strikes in Laghman province September 16, 2012. NATO-led air strikes in southern Laghman province on Saturday night killed eight women, according to a local official. (Photo: Parwiz Parwiz/Reuters)

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