Last year was the deadliest yet for civilians in the Afghan war with a 15 percent jump in the death toll, the UN said in a report Wednesday which laid bare the conflict's impact on ordinary people. The 2,777 deaths underscore the level of violence in the country as foreign troops prepare to start handing control of security to Afghan forces in some areas from July ahead of a full transition due by 2014.
Insurgents were responsible for 75 percent of all civilian deaths, up 28 percent on 2009, the figures said. That compared to 16 percent for international and Afghan government forces, down 26 percent on the previous year, while responsibility for the remaining deaths could not be attributed. Large numbers of children and women were among the dead - 1,175 and 555 respectively.
The issue of civilian deaths caused by coalition forces, long a thorny question for the US-led troops, is particularly sensitive in Afghanistan at the moment. Last week, nine young boys were mistakenly killed while out collecting firewood in an air strike in eastern Afghanistan.
President Hamid Karzai rejected a rare public apology over the incident from General David Petraeus, the US commander of troops in Afghanistan, while US Defense Secretary Robert Gates also said he was sorry during a visit to the country Monday. As it was published, Staffan de Mistura, the UN special representative in Afghanistan, issued an appeal to all combatants for civilian casualties to be reduced.
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