KABUL, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Afghan civilians continue to bear the brunt of armed conflicts as 2,640 civilians were killed and some 5,379 others wounded in the first nine months of the year, the UN mission reported on its website Friday.
"Civilian deaths and injuries in Afghanistan remained near record high levels in the first nine months of the year," UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement.
However, the statement noted that UNAMA found a 6 percent decrease in the overall civilian causalities when compared to the same period in 2016.
"Civilian deaths increased by 1 percent while the number of injured civilians reduced by 9 percent," it said.
Ground engagements continued to cause most civilian casualties, followed by suicide and complex attacks as well as Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosions.
The mission has attributed 64 percent of the civilian casualties to the Taliban and other insurgent groups, 20 percent to security forces over the period while 11 percent were attributed to both sides during clashes and the rest 5 percent were caused by other reasons.
