The UN said that civilians casualties in Afghanistan touched a record high in the first half of 2016, with children in particular paying a heavy price as insurgent groups step up fighting.

The UN said that civilians casualties in Afghanistan touched a record high in the first half of 2016, with children in particular paying a heavy price as insurgent groups step up fighting.

Between January and June, 1,601 civilians were killed and 3,565 were wounded -- a four percent increase in casualties compared to the same period last year, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Monday.

The casualties have reached their highest level since the UN began issuing its authoritative reports in 2009.

The casualties include 1,509 children -- a figure the UN described as "alarming and shameful".

The statistics are a grim indicator of growing insecurity in Afghanistan as the Taliban step up their nationwide insurgency and the ISIL Takfiri group seeks to expand their foothold in the east of the country.

"Every single casualty documented in this report -- people killed while praying, working, studying, fetching water, recovering in hospitals -- every civilian casualty represents a failure of commitment and should be a call to action for parties to the conflict to take meaningful steps to reduce civilians' suffering," UNAMA chief Tadamichi Yamamoto said.

"Platitudes not backed by meaningful action ring hollow over time. History and the collective memory of the Afghan people will judge leaders of all parties to this conflict by their actual conduct."

The report comes after the deadliest attack for 15 years in Kabul killed 80 people and left hundreds maimed, an assault claimed by ISIL.