UN says Afghan civilian casualties up 31%

The conflict in Afghanistan is taking a higher toll on civilians than ever before, with more than 1,200 civilians killed in the first six months of 2010.

According to BBC News casualties are up 31%, with another 1,997 civilians injured in the first half of the year, UN figures shows.

The Taliban and insurgents are mostly responsible for the rise, the UN says.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly warned Western powers that civilian deaths caused by Nato attacks help to fuel the insurgency.

The US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, Gen David Petraeus said earlier this month that "every Afghan civilian death diminishes our cause." Shortly afterwards, a Nato airstrike killed up to 25 Afghans travelling to a funeral in Nangarhar province.

The Taliban have also issued their own "code of conduct", telling fighters to avoid killing civilians.

Afghanistan Rights Monitor said the figures were a slight increase compared with the same period in 2009. But their report said the number of people killed in Nato air strikes in the same period had halved.

A UN report in January showed that civilian casualties in the Afghan conflict had risen by 14% in 2009 compared with 2008. It said the "vast majority" of the more than 2,400 deaths had been caused by Taliban attacks.