Civilian casualties in Afghanistan topped 10,000 in 2014, a 22 percent increase from the previous year, reflecting more battles between armed groups and the government and a sharp reduction of Western soldiers in the country, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said Wednesday. A total of 3,600 civilians were killed and 6,849 injured in 2014, UNAMA said in the annual report compiled in coordination with the U.N. human-rights agency. The figures are the highest number of civilian casualties recorded in a single year since the United Nations began keeping such records in 2009. The report also found that for the first time since 2009, more Afghan civilians were killed and injured in ground engagements than by improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Civilian casualties from ground operations jumped 54 percent last year, with armed groups increasingly using mortars, rockets, and grenades, sometimes indiscriminately, in civilian areas, the report said. "Rising civilian deaths and injuries in 2014 attests to a failure to fulfill commitments to protect Afghan civilians from harm," UNAMA chief Nicholas Haysom said in Kabul. "Parties to the conflict should understand the impact of their actions and take responsibility for them, uphold the values they claim to defend, and make protecting civilians their first priority."
