MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th July, 2021) The number of civilian casualties and fatalities in Afghanistan hit a new record of 5,183 in the first half of the year, with a particularly sharp rise in May amid the withdrawal of foreign troops, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Monday.
"UNAMA's Afghanistan Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict Midyear Update 2021 documents 5,183 civilian casualties (1,659 killed and 3,254 injured), a 47 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2020. Of serious concern is the acute rise in the number of civilians killed and injured in the period from 1 May, with almost as many civilian casualties in the May-June period as recorded in the entire preceding four months," the mission said in its fresh report.
Without a significant de-escalation in violence, "Afghanistan is on course for 2021 to witness the highest ever number of documented civilian casualties in a single year since UNAMA records began," the assistance mission warned.
In April, UNAMA reported that the number of civilian casualties in Afghanisan increased by almost 30% in the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2020.
