Record number of Afghanistan civilians died in two months: UN

Kabul: Since the Taliban has launched a massive attack after the withdrawal of the US troops, the number of civilians killed and injures in the fighting has increased to a record level in Afghanistan, according to the UN report.

The UN prepared 'The Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict' said that the heavy toll so far is now being reported from battles in rural areas, warning that the consequences would be catastrophic if the fighting spills into more populated towns and cities.

The Taliban insurgents are reported to have captured major swathes of the country since May 1, coincided with the US and other forces' withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Though the report has pointed out the record level causalities of the first six months of the year, what it has flagged as concerned was the high number of causalities in two months from May.

In the two-month period at least 783 civilians were reported to have died and about 1,609 people were injured, equalling the total causalities of the first four months of the year, and the highest figures for May and June since the UN began keeping records in 2009. They are also likely to be the worst since the Taliban were toppled from power in 2001, a report in The Guardian said.

Deborah Lyons, the UN secretary general's special representative for Afghanistan in a statement pleaded with the Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the fighting considering the conflict's grim and chilling trajectory and its devastating impact on civilians.

The UN report linked nearly two-thirds of the casualties to the attack by insurgent groups, including the regional Isis franchise. About a quarter were the responsibility of the government and its allies. The others could not be clearly attributed to any group, the report said.

Meanwhile, the UN report did not attribute any civilian deaths to actions of international forces for the first time since the UN began keeping records.

Women and girls were reported to have been badly hit by the conflict for the death toll of both groups rose to a record level over the six months of the year. The most shocking single incident was perhaps an attack on a girl's school in Kabul in which at least 85 people were killed and more than 200 injured the majority of them schoolgirls.