A United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) report has revealed that the number of Afghan civilian casualties has risen by 24 per cent in the first six months of 2014.
It said that the leading cause behind these conflicted-related deaths and injuries were ground combat between involved parties and frequent use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
According to the Express Tribune, the report says that between January 1 and June 30, 2014, UNAMA documented 4,853 civilian casualties, which was 24 per cent more than what was recorded over the same period in 2013.
Included in the toll were 1,564 civilian deaths and 3,289 injuries, up 17 per cent and 28 per cent from the same time period last year, respectively.
In its 2014 Mid-Year Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, prepared in coordination with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), UNAMA also noted that ground engagements and crossfire hit children and women with unprecedented force, with associated child casualties more than doubling in the first six months of 2014, and two-thirds more women killed and injured by ground engagements compared with 2013.
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Of the 1,901 civilian casualties resulting from ground combat and crossfire, UNAMA attributed 988, or 52 per cent, to anti-government elements and 274, equivalent to 14 per cent, to pro-government forces, while 599, or 32 per cent, could not be attributed and 38 civilian casualties, equivalent to two per cent, resulted from cross-border shelling.
Ground engagements caused two of every five civilian casualties in 2014, accounting for 39 per cent of all civilian casualties, the report said.
Total child civilian casualties increased by 34 per cent in the first six months of 2014 to 1,071, including 295 killed and 776 injured, while total women civilian casualties increased by 24 per cent to 440, including 148 killed and 292 injured.
United Nations Special Representative for the Secretary-General in Afghanistan and head of UNAMA Jan Kubis said in a press release that the nature of the conflict in Afghanistan is changing in 2014, with an escalation of ground engagements in civilian-populated areas, and its impact is proving to be most devastating.
