Nearly 260,000 people died during the famine that hit Somalia from 2010 to 2012, a study shows, according to BBC News.

Half of them were children under the age of five, says the report by the UN food agency and the U.S.-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network.

The number of deaths was higher than the estimated 220,000 people who died during the 1992 famine. The crisis was caused by a severe drought, worsened by conflict between rival groups fighting for power.

UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) senior economist Mark Smulders said the "true enormity of this human tragedy" had emerged for the first time from the study, done jointly with the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net).

"By nature, estimating mortality in emergencies is an imprecise science, but given the quantity and quality of data that were available, we are confident in the strength of the study," said Fews Net official Chris Hillbruner.

"It suggests that what occurred in Somalia was one of the worst famines in the last 25 years," he added.

The UN first declared a famine in July 2011 in Somalia's Southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions, which were controlled by the militant Islamist group al-Shabab, which is aligned to al-Qaeda.

It denied there was a famine and banned several Western aid agencies from operating in its areas.

The famine later spread to other areas, including Middle Shabelle, Afgoye and at camps for displaced people in the government-controlled capital, Mogadishu.

An estimated 4.6% of the total population and 10% of children under five died in southern and central Somalia, the report says.

"The report confirms we should have done more before the famine was declared," said Philippe Lazzarini, UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia.