UN report says civilian casualties in Afghanistan at record level in May-June

Gulf Today Report

The United Nations warned on Monday that nearly 2,400 Afghan civilians were killed or injured in May and June as fighting between Taliban insurgents and Afghan security forces escalated.

Afghanistan could see the highest number of civilian deaths in more than a decade if the Taliban's offensives across the country are not halted.

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The highest number for those two months since records started in 2009, the United Nations said as violence has surged when the insurgents cranked up operations to coincide with a final withdrawal of US-led foreign forces.

Afghan men try to identify the dead bodies at a hospital after a bomb explosion near a school west of Kabul. File/AP

The UN's Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a report it had documented 5,183 civilian casualties between January and June, of which 1,659 were deaths. The number was up 47 per cent from the same period last year.

In a report released on Monday documenting civilian casualties for the first half of 2021, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it expected figures to touch their highest single-year levels since the mission began reporting over a decade ago.

It also warned that Afghan troops and pro-government forces were responsible for a quarter of all civilian casualties.

Afghan security personnel inspect the site of a bomb explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan. File/AP

"Of serious concern is the acute rise in the number of civilians killed and injured in the period from 1 May, with almost as many civilian casualties in the May-June period as recorded in the entire preceding four months," UNAMA said in a statement.

The report found a particularly sharp increase in killings and injuries since May, when international military forces began their withdrawal and the fighting intensified following the Taliban’s offensive.

Women and children made up close to half of all civilian casualties in the first half of 2021 at 46%, according to the report. Thirty-two percent were children, with 468 killed and 1,214 wounded. Fourteen percent of civilian casualties were women, with 219 killed and 508 wounded, the report said.