October 05, 2007	Friday	Ramazan 22, 1428

KABUL, Oct 4: Insurgency-related deaths in Afghanistan were 55 per cent higher in the first nine months of 2007 compared to last year, as violence since the 2001 US-led invasion surpassed all previous highs, according to an Associated Press analysis.

Almost 5,100 people have died in suicide bombings, gunbattles, airstrikes, and roadside bombs around Afghanistan through the first nine months of the year, according to an AP count based on figures from Afghan, US and Nato officials.

The number represents a 55 per cent increase over the first nine months of 2006, when the AP count recorded 3,288 insurgency-related deaths. The AP count recorded 4,019 deaths in all of 2006.

Findings exceed those of a recent UN report that recorded a near 30 per cent increase in violent incidents in the country this year, averaging 550 incidents a month, up from an average of 425 last year.

Almost 180 international soldiers have died in Afghanistan so far this year, including 85 Americans, a record pace. About 90 US soldiers died in Afghanistan over the whole of 2006.

The majority of deaths so far this year, 3,544, or 70 per cent of the total, have been militants killed by US and Nato military action or by Afghan forces.

The AP count is based on figures given by Western and Afghan figures but does not purport to record all deaths in the country, many of which occur in remote locations and are never reported publicly.

Some 650 Afghan civilians have died, according to the AP count, 13 per cent of the overall deaths.

Afghanistan’s security forces have been hit hard, with more than 600 police killed already this year, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary, a higher figure than the AP count, which shows a total of 600 police and army soldiers killed this year.

“This is a result of a tactical change by the enemy,” Mr Bashary said. “In the past the enemy launched most of their attacks against international forces, but now they are carrying out ambushes and suicide attacks on both.”—AP