Afghanistan government forces have been on high alert since the Taliban renewed their offensives with thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire [Xinhua]
The United Nations says that the number of children killed in the conflict in Afghanistan in 2016 rose by nearly 25 per cent from the previous year.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that it had recorded 11,418 conflict related civilian casualties of which 3,498 were fatalities.
“Of these, 3,512 were children – 923 dead and 2,589 injured,” UNAMA said.
UNAMA’s Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan for 2016, released on Monday, said that the figures were the highest since it started to record civilian deaths and injuries.
“The killing and maiming of thousands of Afghan civilians is deeply harrowing and largely preventable,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, in a statement accompanying the report.
“All parties to the conflict must take immediate concrete measures to protect the ordinary Afghan men, women and children whose lives are being shattered,” he added.
But 2015 itself was considered a record year for deaths in Afghanistan.
UN statistics for 2015 indicate that more than 3,500 civilians died in Afghanistan, with a quarter of fatalities among children.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
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