Muddled Equivalence

So what's the problem with this, a great story about how Afghan forces discovered a huge weapons cache that was going to be used to disrupt the coming September elections? This:

Afghan officials have warned that the Taliban and al-Qaida have launched a joint campaign to disrupt the September elections — the next key step toward democracy after a quarter century of war. Since March, a major upsurge in fighting has left more than 800 people dead, more than half of them suspected insurgents, according to U.S. and Afghan officials.

What purpose is served by lumping together the terrorists and insurgents with the victims of the terrorists and insurgents?

If more than half of those killed were terrorists and insurgents, do we know how much more than half? Was it 450 out of 800? 550? 650? We don't know, simply because the media doesn't give us that information.

Instead it lumps together victims with their killers.

Nice.