Civilian war deaths hit record in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan – Civilian deaths in the Afghan war reached a record high during the first half of this year, a United Nations report said Thursday, documenting a worsening toll of roadside bombs and suicide attacks by Taliban insurgents as well as helicopter-borne airstrikes by coalition forces.

U.N. officials said they had counted 1,462 civilian deaths from January through June, 80 percent of which they attributed to Taliban militants. Taliban suicide attacks and roadside bombings accounted for nearly half the deaths.

Targeted assassinations of politicians, tribal leaders and other pro-government individuals by the Taliban also rose during this period, with 191 people killed compared with 181 during the first half of last year.

Coalition airstrikes accounted for 79 deaths, the report said, a 14 percent increase compared with 2010. Most were due to airstrikes from Apache helicopters operated by U.S. forces, the report found.

One of the factors behind the rise in violence is the Taliban’s growing use of “pressure-plate” roadside bombs, powerful explosives that act as land mines but can be triggered by weight of as little as about 22 pounds, the report said. That means that even young children could detonate the bombs if they stepped on them.

“Any civilian who steps on or drives over these has no defense against them and little chance of survival,” Georgette Gagnon, the U.N. human rights director in Afghanistan, said.

The total number of deaths was 14 percent higher than during the same period last year. And May, during which 368 people were killed, was the deadliest month since the U.N. began documenting civilian casualties in 2007.