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Roundup: Civilian casualties in Afghanistan remain record high: UN mission

Xinhua, August 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Afghan conflicts and war have continued to exact a heavy toll on civilians in the first six months of the year, a UN mission here said in its mid-year report released on Wednesday, adding that the civilian casualties projected to equal or exceed the record high number documented in 2014.

"Between 1 January and 30 June 2015, UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) documented 4,921 civilian casualties (1,592 civilians deaths and 3,329 injured)," the report said.

The report, titled "Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan for 2015" and prepared by the Human Rights Unit of UNAMA, has highlighted a 6 percent decrease in civilians' death and 4 percent increase in civilian's injuries when compared with the same period last year.

These figures amount to an overall 1 percent increase in civilian casualties compared with the first six months of 2014, and the highest number of total civilian casualties compared to the same period in previous years," according to the report.

"The most important finding in the report is that 4,921 Afghan civilians, non-combatants have died and injured in the first six months of 2015," UN Special Representative of the Secretary General in Afghanistan Nicholas Haysom told reporters at a press conference Wednesday.

Ground engagements between parties to the conflict remained the leading cause of the civilian casualties, leaving 379 civilians killed and 1,198 others injured, the report finds.

"Until peace is achieved, all parties to the conflicts must fulfill their obligations under the international humanitarian law to minimize the impact of the conflict on civilians and match their public statements on the protection of civilians with concrete actions," Haysom, who also heads UNAMA, added.

Out of total casualties, some 385 civilians died while 723 others sustained wounds as a result of the improvised explosive device (IED) attacks which is the second leading cause of the civilian casualties in the first half of the year.

According to the report, suicide and complex attacks and the targeted killings were the third and fourth leading cause of the civilian deaths and injuries respectively as some 183 non- combatants died as a result of suicide attacks while 440 deaths were registered as a result of targeting killings by the militants.

Women and children were particularly hard hit by the armed conflict, as the UNAMA report found and documented a 23 percent rise in women casualties (164 deaths and 395 injuries) and a 13 percent increase in children casualties (320 deaths and 950 injuries).

The report has attributed 70 percent of the casualties in the first six months to the Taliban and other insurgent groups, while 16 percent were attributed to security forces (15 percent to Afghan national security forces and pro-government armed groups and 1 percent to international military forces).

Some 10 percent of civilian casualties were unattributed while the rest 4 percent of casualties were caused by explosive remnants of war, according to the report.

The UN mission started to monitor the situation of civilians and to coordinate efforts to ensure their protection in 2009. More than 19,360 civilians were killed and over 33,000 others wounded from Jan. 1, 2009 to June 30 this year, according to the report. Endi