Afghan civilians will bear the brunt of an escalation in the Afghan war this year as thousands more US troops deploy unless more is done by Nato forces and Taliban militants to protect them, a top Red Cross official said yesterday.

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan are "significantly higher" today than a year ago, and an intensification of the conflict this year could mean that consequences for many more Afghans will be "dire in the extreme," said Pierre Krahenbuhl, the director of operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

" Th t> -daily-hues of' people living in areas where the fighting is taking place are being disrupted, be it because of airstrikes, night raids, suicide attacks, the use of IEDs, or because of intimidation and the population being pressurized or co-opted by the different parties to this conflict," he said.

The UN last month said 2,118 civilians died in the Afghan conflict in 2008, a 40 percent jump over 2007. The world body said insurgent attacks caused 55 percent of those deaths, while US, Nato or government forces caused 39 percent of the deaths. The remaining 6 percent were caused in crossfire.