Afghanistan civilian toll up sharply

(CNN) - Civilian deaths in Afghanistan have gone sharply upward in the past year, largely because of stepped-up Taliban attacks and an insurgent shift toward tactics like roadside bombings, U.N. officials said Sunday.

Afghan civilian deaths in the first six months of 2008 jumped 60 percent, from 430 in the first six months of 2007 to 698 this year, John Holmes, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told reporters in Kabul.

Taliban insurgents battling coalition forces have shifted away from direct attacks on international troops toward the use of "civilian-blind" measures like roadside bombings and suicide attacks, said Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.