Alwaght- The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported 3,438 deaths and 7,015 wounded in the country last year despite US-led military presence in the war-torn country.
The UN report released on Thursday said nearly 2,300 civilians were killed or wounded in suicide bombings and attacks in Afghanistan in 2017, more than any previous year of the conflict on record.
The figures come as militant and terrorist groups ramp up their assaults on urban areas following US President Donald Trump's announcement last August that the American presence in Afghanistan will remain open-ended.
"The figures alone cannot capture the appalling human suffering inflicted on ordinary people, especially women and children," said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN envoy for Afghanistan.
Indiscriminate assaults by Taliban and ISIS terrorist groups in populated areas caused "the highest levels of civilian casualties," the study added, with a total of 1,831 people killed and wounded in Kabul in 2017 alone. Things have not improved in 2018.
Since January 20, terrorists have stormed a luxury hotel, bombed a crowded street and raided a military compound in Kabul, killing more than 130 people.
The majority of the victims in 2017 were killed or wounded by anti-government insurgents, according to the report.
More than 28,000 civilians have been killed and over 52,000 wounded in Afghanistan since 2009 when officials started documenting the casualties, according to the UN.
Afghanistan is still suffering from insecurity and violence years after the US and its allies invaded the country in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. US-led forces continue to occupy the country amid an upsurge of terrorist attacks by ISIS and Taliban groups and an unprecedented increase on narcotics production.
