Afghan civilian casualties at record high in 2015: UN

The United Nations says Afghanistan saw the highest number of civilian casualties last year since 2009, as the country has been mired in a long war with Taliban militants.

Figures in a Sunday report on civilian casualties indicated that there were 11,002 civilian casualties in 2015, including a total of 3,545 civilian deaths. Nearly 7,460 people suffered injuries in the armed conflict.

Women and children in particular bore the brunt of the deadly clashes between government forces and militant groups in Afghanistan as casualties among women rose 37 percent, the report said. Kids also paid a heavy price since child casualties jumped by 14 percent over the year.

Nicholas Haysom, the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), denounced the harm done to civilians as “totally unacceptable,” calling on “those inflicting this pain on the people of Afghanistan to take concrete action to protect civilians and put a stop to the killing and maiming.”

Based on the report, the leading cause of civilian casualties was ground engagements at 37 percent, followed by roadside bombs at 21 percent.

UNAMA said 2015 witnessed the “highest number of total civilian casualties” recorded by the mission since 2009.

A US airstrike in October 2015 on a Doctors Without Borders hospital, which left 42 staff, patients and family members dead, and injured another 43, has been the main factor for a nine-percent increase in civilian casualties caused by foreign forces.

On the whole, 103 civilians lost their lives and 67 were wounded by foreign forces last year, the report said.

Meanwhile, militant groups like the Taliban were blamed for the majority of civilian deaths and injuries, at 62 percent.

Afghanistan is gripped by insecurity over 14 years after the United States and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The 2001 invasion removed the Taliban from power, but many areas across the country still face violence and insecurity.

Since 2009, when the UN started the systematic recording of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, it has documented about 59,000 deaths and injuries.

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