Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/03/2011391229382651.html

The UN report on civilian deaths says the toll increased by 15 per cent compared to last year. A UN spokesman confirmed that the civilian death toll was the highest since the Taliban were ousted in 2001. Civilian deaths in the Afghan conflict have risen in 2010, hitting numbers never before seen since hostilities began in 2001, according to a United Nations report. The UN, in its annual report on the civilian death toll in Afghanistan released on Wednesday, said 2,777 civilians died last year, a 15 per cent increase from 2009. Large numbers of women and children were among the dead, with their numbers being 555 and 1,175 respectively.