Afghan war civilian deaths highest in 2010: UN

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KABUL, Mar 9 (AFP): The impact of the Afghanistan war on ordinary people was laid bare Wednesday by UN figures showing a 15 per cent increase in the number of civilians killed last year, the highest annual toll since 2001. Insurgents were responsible for 75 per cent of all civilian deaths, up 28 percent on 2009, the statistics said. That compared to 16 percent for international and Afghan government forces, down 26 per cent. Responsibility for nine percent of deaths could not be attributed. Civilian deaths caused by coalition forces is a highly sensitive issue in Afghanistan, and one that came under the spotlight again last week when nine young boys were mistakenly killed 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, and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates followed it with his own apology during a visit to the country on Monday. The civilian figures were released by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). They indicate that the number of Afghan civilians killed in the war last year stood at nearly eight per day and is nearly four times higher than the 2010 death toll for international troops. "In a year of intensified armed conflict, with a surge of activity by pro-government forces and increased use of improvised explosive devices and assassinations by anti-government elements, Afghan civilians paid the price with their lives in even greater numbers in 2010," said Ivan Simonovic.