Afghan War Claims 10,081 Lives in 2010

[tekisui]

Source: The Raw Story

KABUL — More than 10,000 people, about a fifth of them civilians, lost their lives in violence in Afghanistan last year, an AFP count based on official figures and an independent website tally showed Sunday.

Afghanistan's interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary revealed new figures for the number of civilians, police and militants killed in 2010 -- a total of 8,560 people.

In addition, the Afghan defense ministry said that 810 Afghan soldiers died in 2010, while independent website icasualties.org puts the total death toll for international troops last year at 711.

That brings the overall number of dead from the war last year to 10,081, according to an AFP calculation.

Afghanistan has been in the grip of a Taliban insurgency since the hardline Islamists were ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the United States.

more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/afghan-war-claims-10081-lives/