More than 10,000 civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2017, UN report says

For the fourth year in a row, more than 10,000 civilians have been killed or injured in the conflict in Afghanistan, the United Nations said in its annual report on civilian casualties Thursday.

The 2017 Annual Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan found that between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2017, there were 10,453 civilian casualties — 3,438 deaths and 7,015 wounded.

"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, the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan.

The numbers compare to a total 11,434 casualties for the same period in 2016, when there were 3,510 deaths and 7,924 wounded.

But the decline in total deaths was tempered by the report's finding that the number of airstrikes conducted by international military forces and Afghan air forces increased significantly — and with it the number of airstrike-related deaths.
 [dailysabah.com]
 15/2/18
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