PICTURE LEFT:A young Afghan woman mourns the loss of a relative at a funeral for suicide blast victims in Baghlan, north east of Kabul, in 2007.(AFP/File/Massoud Hossaini)
"More than 1,000 Afghan civilians killed this year"
Afghanistan's intensifying conflict killed more than 1,000 civilians in the first six months of 2009, an increase of nearly a quarter over the same period last year, the United Nations said Friday.This year has been the bloodiest in a Taliban-led insurgency that has drawn thousands of international military reinforcements, most of them deploying into areas where a strong militant presence could prevent August 20 elections.