Civilian casualties in Afghanistan hit record high: U.N.

Civilian casualties of the war in Afghanistan rose to record levels for the seventh year in row in 2015, as violence spread across the country in the wake of the withdrawal of most international troops, the United Nations reported on Sunday.

At least 3,545 non-combatants died and another 7,457 were injured by fighting last year in a 4-percent increase over 2014, the international organization said in its annual report on civilian casualties.

"The harm done to civilians is totally unacceptable," Nicholas Haysom, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

Fighting between Western-backed government forces and insurgent groups meant more non-combatants are being caught in the crossfire, investigators wrote, pointing to two developments in particular which pushed casualties up.

Heavy fighting in the northern city of Kunduz, which briefly fell to the Taliban in late September, and a wave of suicide bombs which killed and wounded hundreds of people in the capital Kabul last year were the main factors behind the rise, while elsewhere casualties fell.

Women and children were hard hit, as casualties among women spiked 37 percent while deaths and injuries increased 14 percent among children.  - Read More 

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