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Civilian casualties on the rise in Afghanistan

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-12-23 22:04

KABUL -- Continued militancy and conflicts have claimed the lives of more civilians in Afghanistan in comparison to last year, spokesman of Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) Nadir said Tuesday.

Afghan protesters shout stop killing civilian during a march organized by Afghanistan National Country- wide Council (Jirga) in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2008. Around 1,000 people took part in the march who was protesting against the killing of civilian by International security forces in Afghanistan. Continued militancy and conflicts have claimed the lives of more civilians in Afghanistan in comparison to last year. [Agencies]

In 2007, the number of civilian casualties had registered over 1,500 while  in 2008, according to the watchdog's spokesman, the figure has risen by 41 percent. More than 1,700 civilians, according to Nadiri, have been killed over the past eight months of 2008.

"Since beginning this year up to the end of August 1,778 civilians have been killed and out of these 625 of them were killed by the national and international troops," the spokesman asserted.

Nadiri added that 25 percent of these people were killed in air strikes, but he did not say the number of non-combatants killed since September up to date.

AIHRC also equally blamed pro-government troops and militants for the violence, adding both sides are involved on 50 percent basis in abusing the rights of non-combatants.

Both the Taliban and the US-led NATO troops have abused human rights in combat operations which had left thousands of civilians dead.

Only in last August, 91 civilians had been killed in an airstrike carried out by the US-led forces in Shindand district of the western Herat province while 40 others lost their lives in similar attack on a wedding party in Shah Walikot district of southern Kandahar province in November.

Militancy and conflicts have left more than 5,000 people dead so far this year in Afghanistan.