Over 10,000 Civilian Casualties Recorded in Afghanistan in 2017: Report

Over 10,000 civilian casualties were recorded in Afghanistan during 2017, the number includes 3,438 deaths and 7,015 injured, according to a new report released on Thursday by the Human Rights Service of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama).

RELATED:
Rouhani: Iranians Will Never Forget US Atrocities in the Middle East

“The chilling statistics in this report provide credible data about the war’s impact, but the figures alone cannot capture the appalling human suffering inflicted on ordinary people, especially women and children," said Tadamichi Yamamoto, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Kabul, said in a statement. 

The study was conducted to monitor the living condition of civilians in the region, including the efforts to protect them per the "fundamental freedoms and human rights provisions of the Afghan Constitution and international treaties to which Afghanistan is a State party," the report noted.  

The highest number of "civilian casualties from suicide and complex attacks in a single year in Afghanistan" was recorded in 2017, with 605 people killed and 1,690 wounded from such incidents, according to the report. 

"The combined use of suicide improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and non-suicide IEDs by anti-government elements accounted for most civilian casualties in 2017 – particularly indiscriminate and unlawful use of IEDs such as suicide bombs and pressure-plate devices in civilian populated areas," the report stated. 

"I am particularly appalled by the continued indiscriminate and unlawful use of IEDs such as suicide bombs and pressure-plate devices in civilian populated areas," Yamamoto said. "This is shameful."

Unama documented "a disturbing increase in attacks against places of worship, religious leaders, and worshippers" which amounted to 499 civilian casualties, including 202 deaths, during the 38 attack in 2017. This is three times higher than the attacks carried out in 2016, double the number of deaths recorded with a 30 percent increase in the total civilian casualties, according to the report. 

"Afghan civilians have been killed going about their daily lives – traveling on a bus, praying in a mosque, simply walking past a building that was targeted. The people of Afghanistan, year after year, continue to live in insecurity and fear, while those responsible for ending lives and blighting lives escape punishment. Such attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law and are likely, in most cases, to constitute war crimes. The perpetrators must be identified and held accountable," Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, said in a statement.  

The report also added that nearly 42 percent of the casualties were caused by the  Afghan Taliban, with an increased number of victims attacks were carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group and significant measures undertaken by the Afghan national security forces.