Sharp increase in Afghan attacks

By Sanjoy Majumder
BBC News, Kabul

The Taleban is now estimated to control 10% of the country

There has been a sharp increase in militant attacks in Afghanistan, according to a new UN report.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said there were 8,000 conflict-related deaths in 2007 at an average of 566 incidents per month.

That compares with 425 incidents per month during the previous year.

The report comes amid growing pressure by the United States on its Nato allies to commit more troops to Afghanistan, where fighting has raged this year.

Backup

According to the UN report nearly a fifth of the 8,000 fatalities last year were civilians.

Increasingly the Taleban and other militants are using Iraq-style insurgent tactics, including roadside attacks using improvised explosive devices, suicide bombs, assassinations and abductions.

The UN is particularly concerned over the increased targeting of Afghan and foreign aid workers.

Last year more than 48 convoys of the UN's World Food Programme were attacked.

Most of the violence is concentrated in the south, as well as in the east along the Pakistani border.

The report comes as Canada threatens to pull out its 2,500 troops from the southern province of Kandahar unless other countries provide an extra 1,000 soldiers as backup.

Last month the US Director of National Intelligence, Michael McConnell, said that the Taleban controlled 10% of Afghanistan - six years after they were ousted from power.