Civilian casualties in Afghanistan hit record high - UN

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 (UNAMA), said in a statement.  Fighting between Western-backed government forces and insurgent groups meant more non-combatants are being caught in the crossfire.   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.

Since the United Nations began recording civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2009, it has documented nearly 59,000 deaths and injuries. (Source: Reuters)