Over half a million Afghans displaced in 2016 : United Nations

The number of newly internally displaced people (IDPs) in Afghanistan in 2016 is 623,000, with more than half of them children, a UN report said on Tuesday.

The number of registered IDPs grew by 40,000 since mid-December, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs predicts that the numbers would rise in the coming years.

People have been newly displaced by conflict in 31 of Afghanistan's 33 provinces.

Some 42 percent of new displacements occurred in the north of the country, including the provinces of Kunduz and Baghlan.

Another 28 percent of internally displaced are in the south of the country, concentrated in Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces, where the Taliban have concentrated a renewed offensive.