Afghanistan: ‘Deadliest six months’ for civilians

16 July BBC

The first six months of 2011 were the deadliest for civilians in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001, a UN report has found.

The country saw 1,462 civilian deaths in January to June, a 15% increase on the same period last year.

Most of the deaths were caused by roadside bombs and anti-government forces such as the Taliban.

While the total number of people killed by pro-government action fell by 9%, more people died in Nato air strikes. The report comes days before Nato is due to begin the process of handing over responsibility of some provinces to Afghan security forces.

Complex attacks “The rising tide of violence and bloodshed in the first half of 2011 brought injury and death to Afghan civilians at levels without recorded precedent in the current armed conflict,” the report said.More than 80% of those deaths have been blamed on anti-government militants including the Taliban, with roadside bombs and IED [improved explosive devices] the single biggest killer.There has also been an increase in the number of deaths caused by suicide attacks. The reports also warned that while the number of suicide attacks was largely unchanged, the number of casualties they caused caused had gone up 53%.

Such attacks were now “more complex”, said the UN, and often involved “multiple bombers in spectacular attacks that kill many Afghan civilians”.