United Nations headquarters

UN says no fewer than 1,662 Afghan civilians were killed and 3,581 others were injured between January and June this year.

A new mid-year report released by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan revealed on Monday that the number of civilian casualties from the continued war, remains at a two-year high, .

Casualties among women rose by 23 per cent, while child casualties increased by one per cent.

At 67 per cent of the total, the highest number of casualties, 1,141 deaths and 2,348 injuries, was caused by anti-government forces, mainly the Taliban.

The figure increased to 12 per cent compared to the same period of 2016, with the Taliban militants responsible for 43 per cent of casualties, IS for 5 per cent and unidentified attackers for the rest.

Forty per cent of the casualties were caused by bombs, mines planted by the roadside and suicide vests. This reflects the growing number of attacks across the country.

According to the report, of great concern is the 15-per-cent increase in suicide and complex attacks that killed 259 and injured 892.

A massive truck bombing in the capital Kabul on May 31 accounted for most of that increase.

“Each one of these casualty figures reflects a broken family, unimaginable trauma and suffering, and the brutal violation of people’s human rights,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Al-Hussein said.

(dpa/NAN)