Civilian deaths in Afghanistan hit record high for second straight year

Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Deaths and injuries linked to warfare in Afghanistan have increased for the second year in a row, the United Nations reported Monday, as the Taliban continues to look to wreak havoc while Afghans try to meet with them to discuss peace.

The number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2016, 11,418, published Monday is the highest number of casualties ever reported by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan since the figures started being recorded.

The report, Afghanistan: Protection of Civilians in Armed Comment, shows the number of casualties in 2015 went up by 3 percent in 2016.

Of the 11,418, 3,498 were killed and 7,920 were injured. Of the overall casualty numbers, 3,512 were children, of which 923 were killed and 2,589 injured -- a 24 percent increase over the highest number previously recorded.

"Yet another record year of civilian suffering in Afghanistan," Tadamichi Yamamoto, the U.N. Secretary-General's Special Representative to Afghanistan and head of the UNAMA, said in a press release. "Unless all parties to the conflict make serious efforts to review and address the consequences of their operations, the levels of civilian casualties, displacement and other types of human suffering are likely to remain at appallingly high levels."

Since 2009, when the U.N. started tracking the numbers of deceased and maimed, the Afghanistan conflict has resulted in the deaths of 24,841 and injuries of 45,347.

"The killing and maiming of thousands of Afghan civilians is deeply harrowing and largely preventable," Yamamoto said. "All parties to the conflict must take immediate concrete measures to protect the ordinary Afghan men, women and children whose lives are being shattered."