GENEVA, Sept 16: The top United Nations human rights official on Tuesday slammed growing civilian casualties in Afghanistan as new figures showed August was the deadliest month since the fall of the Taliban.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement that 330 civilians were killed in August, including more than 90 deaths in one air strike by international forces in Shindand in the west of the country.

“This is the highest number of civilian deaths to occur in a single month since the end of major hostilities and the ousting of the Taliban regime at the end of 2001,” she said.

The human rights team attached to the UN’s assistance mission in Afghanistan said that 1,445 civilians were killed in the first eight months of the year, up 39 per cent from the same period in 2007.

More than half of these deaths -- 800 killings, or 55 per cent -- are attributed to the Taliban and other insurgent forces, which is almost double the 462 deaths they were held responsible for in the same period the previous year.

“There is substantial evidence indicating that the Taliban are carrying out a systematic campaign of intimidation and violence aimed at Afghan civilians they believe to be supportive of the government, the international community, and military forces,” Pillay said.

The new UN rights chief also voiced concern at the use of air strikes by US and other international forces and urged greater efforts to avoid civilian casualties.

Of the 1,445, some 395 civilians were killed in air strikes, including 47 dead when missiles hit a wedding party in Nangahar province on July 6, and 92 people, mostly children, in the Shindand incident.—AFP