The number of child casualties hit 1,509, nearly a third of 2016’s mid-year total, which was also higher than any year since 2009. He said that since January 1 this year, US forces have conducted “more than 450 kinetic strikes” both under the new authorities and for force protection.
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Islamic State is threatening more attacks against Afghanistan’s Hazara minority after Saturday’s suicide blasts in Kabul that killed 80 people, pledging to retaliate against support by some in the mainly Shi’ite group for the Assad regime in Syria.
Most civilians were caught up in ground clashes between the two sides as the Taliban increasingly threatened population centers and government troops went on the offensive following the withdrawal of most global combat troops in 2014.
Almost one-third (1,509) of the total casualties were linked to children.
Officials have said that IS loyalists in Afghanistan are mostly former fighters for the Taliban or other insurgent groups including the Pakistani Taliban known as Tehrik-i-Taliban or TTP.
According to reports, between 10,000 to 12,000 Afghans have been recruited to fight the Syrian rebels and majority of the Afghan fighters are illegal immigrants.
This year’s casualties include 1,509 children (388 dead and 1,121 injured) a figure the UN Human Rights Chief described as “alarming and shameful”.
Improvised explosive devices killed and injured 17 percent of Afghan civilians while targeted and deliberate attacks accounted for 11 percent of the maimed and killed in Afghanistan this year.
A United Nations report on Afghanistan published on Monday showed a record number of civilian casualties since counting began in 2009, a United Nations spokesman told reporters here.
The figures represent a 47 percent increase in the casualties caused by government forces in comparison with the same time period past year.
“Platitudes not matched by meaningful action ring hollow over time”, he said. It is the first instance that Afghan air strikes have caused more casualties than strikes by worldwide parties. “History and the collective memory of the Afghan people will judge leaders of all parties to this conflict by their actual conduct”, he added.
Apart from suicide attacks, anti-government elements-attributed civilian casualties from ground engagements using mortars, artilleries, rockets, grenades etc. have also risen in 2016 compared to previous years.
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Casualties caused by roadside bombs decreased dramatically, by 21 percent, a drop the United Nations attributed to the evolving nature of the conflict, as well as better bomb-detection by the government.
