Rising toll

Civilian casualty figures for first few months of 2011 are showing a steep rise compared to the same period last year.

May 2011 has seen the most deaths of any month since the UN began recording civilian casualties in 2007, while June 2011 saw the most casualties recorded by improvised explosive device.

Suicide attacks have caused 52% more casualties during the first half of 2011 than the same period in 2010. This is the largest rise of any form of attack recorded by the UN Mission in Afghanistan.

* To 30 June 2011. ** Incidents where civilians are killed as a result of not heeding warnings or obeying instructions from military personnel when close to vehicles or checkpoints. Source: Unama

View the original article here