A total of 2,262 Afghan civilians had been killed in insurgency-hit Afghanistan last year, a local newspaper reported Wednesday.

"A total of 2,262 Afghan civilians had been killed in violent incidents in the militancy-plagued Afghanistan," citing a report of the US Congressional Research Service (CRS), the Daily Outlook reported.

According to the report, the civilian casualties had decreased in the conflict-ridden country compared with 2,777 in 2010.

According to the report of the US Congress, there was a similar decline in the casualties of Afghan army with 289 deaths in 2011 against 821 in 2010.

"The death toll for Afghan police stood at 522 last year, lower than 1,292 in 2010," the newspaper said based on the CRS report.

A total of 1,462 Afghan civilians had been killed in the first half of 2011, a 15 percent rise over the same period of 2010, according to the United Nations mid-year report released in Kabul in July, 2011.

However, a joint Afghan Human Rights Commission and the United Nations mission in Afghanistan said in a mid-year report that the number of civilian casualties had been soaring in the country in the first half of 2011.

The report attributed 80 percent of the civilian deaths in the first six months of 2011 to the attacks of Taliban insurgents and other armed groups opposing the Afghan government, a claim rejected by the Taliban as baseless.

Another 14 percent of the deaths were attributed to Afghan and NATO-led forces and the remaining 6 percent were unattributed in the report.