The United Nations 2016 Annual Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan, documents an overall three percent rise in civilian casualties both deaths and injuries from the last year.

Nearly 11,418 Afghan civilian are the victims of war in 2016 in Afghanistan, the highest tolls since U.N. officials began recording civilian casualties in 2009.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan’s report, said that overall civilian casualties had continued their steady increase in recent years. In 2016, 3,498 civilians were killed and 7,920 others wounded.

“I am deeply saddened to report yet another year of increase in civilian casualties — another all-time-high figure for the number of civilian casualties,” Tadamichi Yamamoto, the United Nations special representative for Unama, said at a news conference on Monday in Kabul, the Afghan capital. “The killing and maiming of Afghan civilians is deeply harrowing and largely preventable.”

More than 3,500 children were among the victims, a increase of 24 percent increase in one year, its report said.

This was mainly due to a 66 percent increase in casualties, most of whom were children, from unexploded ordnance.

UNAMA said there were 11,418 civilian casualties (3,498 deaths and 7,920 injured), an increase of three percent over 2015.

“Yet another record year of civilian suffering,” Yamamoto said in a statement. “Unless all parties to the conflict make serious efforts to review and address the consequences of their operations, the levels of civilian casualties, displacement and other types of human suffering are likely to remain at appallingly high levels.”

2016 also saw the highest number yet of civilian casualties caused by air strikes — 590, of whom 250 were killed, the report said.

In the eight years since the UN launched the annual report, the conflict has claimed 24,841 civilian lives with 45,347 injuries, the report said.

The vast majority (61 percent) of the casualties were attributed to “anti-government elements”, mainly the Taliban, but also to the Islamic State group, while 24 percent were attributed to pro-government forces.

UN human rights director Danielle Bell, said, “With insecurity spiralling as fighting spreads to all 34 provinces, “UNAMA documented record numbers of civilian casualties from ground engagements, suicide and complex attacks and explosive remnants of war.”

“My team tracks the location of every one of the detonations, and the trend we have documented was a direct correlation between casualties from exploded ordnance and areas where the heaviest ground fighting happened,” added Danielle Bell. “The majority of casualties resulted from new unexploded ordnance from the current conflict.”

2015 was also the worst year on record for Afghan civilians with 3,545 people killed and another 7,457 injured.