Taliban assassination campaign causing increased Afghan civilian deaths: UN

KABUL - An escalating Taliban assassination campaign targeting Afghan government workers and those helping international troops has contributed to a 31 per cent rise in civilians killed or wounded the United Nations says. he UN report claims that the first six months of 2010 had been the bloodiest yet for civilians in the nearly nine-year-long counter insurgency campaign.

According to the report, a growing numbers of women and children were also being killed and maimed as insurgents relied increasingly on indiscriminate homemade bombs.

Staffan de Mistura, UN envoy to Afghanistan, said: “We are worried about the future because the human cost of this war is too much,” he said.

“Afghan children and women are increasingly bearing the brunt of this conflict. They are being killed and injured in their homes and communities in greater numbers than ever before,” he added.

The UN’s latest half yearly report into civilian casualties in the nine-year-long conflict documented 1,271 deaths and 1,997 injuries in the first half of the year.

The Taliban-led insurgency was responsible for 2,477 casualties, or three quarters, while Nato troops and Hamid Karzai’s forces accounted for 386.

Deaths and injuries caused by Nato-led forces and the Afghan government dropped by 30 per cent driven by a 64 per cent decline in deaths and injuries caused by aerial attacks. (ANI)