Child casualties in the conflict in Afghanistan rose by more than a quarter last year, the UN said yesterday, with an average of nearly five youngsters killed or injured every day in 2011.
A UN report on children in armed conflict said a total of 1,756 children were killed or injured in the war in Afghanistan in 2011, an average of 4.8 a day, compared with 1,396 in 2010.
The UN children's agency UNICEF said more than 300 under-18s were reportedly recruited to fight in Afghanistan.
Tens of thousands of children in Afghanistan, driven by poverty, work on the streets of the war-torn country's cities and often fall prey to Taliban bombings and other violence, as well as abuse.