An "unprecedented" number of civilians were killed or wounded in Afghanistan from July to September this year, the United Nations said in a new report released Thursday, calling the violence "totally unacceptable".

Friends and relatives take part in funeral of a suicide attack victim in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, July 16, 2018. (Photo: Xinhua)

The figures -- 1,174 deaths and 3,139 injured -- represent a 42 percent increase over the same time period last year, the report said, with the UN recording more casualties in July alone than in any other month on record since it began documenting the violence in 2009.