Civilian deaths in Afghanistan hit a new high in the first half of 2017 with 1,662 killed and more than 3,500 injured, the United Nations said on Monday.
Deaths in the capital Kabul accounted for nearly 20 per cent of the toll, according to the report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which has been documenting civilian casualties in the war-torn country since 2009. The majority of the victims were killed by anti-Government forces — including the Taliban and in attacks claimed by the Islamic State, the report said. The first six months of the year has seen a significant rise in the number of civilian lives lost in the attacks involving more than one perpetrator, with 259 killed and 892 injured — a 15 per cent increase on the same period last year.
Many of those deaths happened in a single attack in Kabul in late May when a truck bomb exploded during the morning rush hour, killing more than 150 people. UNAMA put the civilian death toll at 92, saying it was the deadliest incident to hit the country since 2001.