| 16th
April, 2007
Almost 700 civilians died in Afghanistan last year
at the hands of the Taliban and other Afghan insurgent groups,
according to a new report from Human Rights Watch.
The report, The Human Cost: The Consequences of Insurgent
Attacks in Afghanistan, says 2006 was the deadliest year
for civilians in the Asian nation since 2001 with at least
669 civilians killed in more than 350 armed attacks, most
of which, it says, appear to have been intentionally launched
at civilian targets. An additional 52 civilians died in the
first two months of this year.
Joanne Mariner, the organisation’s terrorism and counter-terrorism
director, says that suicide bombings and other insurgent attacks
have risen dramatically since 2005.
“The insurgents are increasingly committing war crimes,
often by directly targeting civilians,” she says. “Even
when they’re aiming at military targets, insurgent attacks
are often so indiscriminate that Afghan civilians end up as
the main victims.”
The report, which was based on interviews with victims and
their families and a review of documents, says the Taliban
has been increasingly targeting certain groups of civilians,
including humanitarian aid workers, journalists, doctors,
religious leaders, and civilian government employees and condemning
them as spies or collaborators.
~ www.hrw.org
- DAVID ADAMS
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