Monitoring Desk
KABUL: As many as 1,372 civilians lost their lives and 2,360 others sustained wounds in violent incidents during the last eight months of 2017 in Afghanistan, the Civilian Protection Advocacy Group (CPAG) said on Wednesday.
Announcing CPAG findings on civilian casualties, the group’s deputy head, Abdul Rahim Khurram told reporters here that most of the causalities resulted from suicide bombings, airstrikes and ground operations and mostly in Kabul, Nangarhar, Herat, Ghor, Kunduz and Helmand provinces.
Khurram added: “A majority of the civilian casualties occurred in Kabul where houses and cultural sites were damaged and claimed by Islamic State militants. About 600 individuals have been killed in the capital.”
Aziz Ahmad Tasal, a member of the group, said about 327 individuals lost their lives and 924 others wounded in suicide attacks claimed by Daesh.
He said in foreign forces airstrikes most of the casualties happened in Nangarhar, Herat, Kunduz and Uruzgan. Sixty-two individuals had been killed in foreign airstrikes and 167 suffered casualties as a result of Afghan Air Forces strikes, he added.
The group called on the Afghan government and other actors to take seriously the rights of civilians and their protection and prosecute and punish those involved in such incidents. The human rights organization noted in this situation the Afghan government needed to prepare and approve a civilian protection law to protect civilians.
The group also urged foreign troops to take seriously humanitarian and human rights of people in operations in residential areas.
