Record Number of Civilians Killed in Afghan Conflict: UN

 According to the report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which has been documenting civilian casualties in the war-torn country since 2009.
 
The majority of the victims were killed by anti-government forces - including the Taliban and in attacks claimed by ISIS terrorist group, the report said.
 
The first six months of the year has seen a significant rise in the number of civilian lives lost in highly coordinated attacks involving more than one perpetrator, with 259 killed and 892 injured - a 15 percent increase on the same period last year.
 
Many of those deaths happened in a single attack in Kabul in late May when a truck bomb exploded during the morning rush hour, killing more than 150 people and injuring hundreds. UNAMA put the civilian death toll at 92, saying it was the deadliest incident to hit the country since 2001.
 
The U.N.'s special envoy to Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamamoto said the human cost of the conflict remains "far too high."
 
"The continued use of indiscriminate, disproportionate and illegal improvised explosive devices is particularly appalling and must immediately stop," he added in a statement.
 
Women and children have borne the brunt of the increase in civilian casualties, with UNAMA blaming the use of IEDs and aerial operations in populated areas for the jump.
 
According to the U.N.'s figures, more than 26,500 civilians have died and nearly 49,000 injured as a result of armed conflict in Afghanistan since January 2009.
 
A 2015 report by Brown University on war in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion said almost 100,000 people have been killed.
 
The US and its allies in NATO invaded Afghanistan on the pretext of war on terror and ousting the Taliban from power. The costly military adventure dragged on for 15 years and left Afghanistan with many problems, including a surge in militancy and destruction in various cities and towns.
 
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on potential war crimes committed in Afghanistan by various actors in the conflict including those by US military personnel.  The ICC is examining potential cases among three groups of alleged perpetrators, namely the Taliban and allied militants, the Afghan forces, and the US military and spy agency, CIA.
 
British Special Forces are also facing accusations of war crimes following the exposure of an internal investigation into murderous rampages conducted across Afghanistan that were subsequently covered up.