KABUL, Afghanistan – Civilian casualties for 2014 in Afghanistan are expected to exceed 10,000 by the end of the year, according to the United Nations, making it the deadliest year for noncombatants since the international organization began issuing authoritative reports in 2009. “One of the measurements of the security situation has been civilian casualties,” Nicholas Haysom, who heads the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, told reporters Friday at a press conference in New York. “Civilian casualties are a particularly tragic and very prominent part, even benchmark, of the horror of the violence that ordinary Afghans face.” In the first 11 months of this year 3,188 civilians were killed and 6,429 injured, for a total of 9,617 noncombatant casualties in Afghanistan. That’s a 19 percent overall increase over the year before, U.N. officials said. Compared to 2013, this year saw a 33 percent increase in casualties among children. The leading causes continue to be ground fighting between Afghan government forces and insurgent groups, and improvised explosive devices such as roadside bombs. This year also saw several major suicide bombings that took a heavy toll on civilians, including an attack on a volleyball match in November that left at least 53 people dead, including 21 children. Past U.N. reports have indicated that anti-government insurgent groups like the Taliban are accountable for the vast majority of civilian deaths, but as fighting has increased, a growing number of civilians are being caught up in clashes between security forces and militants. Deaths attributable to the NATO military coalition have dropped as the international forces withdraw and curtail airstrikes, which continue to claim occasional civilian lives.Smith.josh@stripes.com Twitter: @joshjonsmith