The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) has called on all sides of the Afghan conflict to ensure the security of children following the attack on a private educational facility in Kabul, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th August, 2018) The United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) has called on all sides of the Afghan conflict to ensure the security of children following the attack on a private educational facility in Kabul, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Afghanistan's Health Ministry said the death toll in the attack on a school in Kabul has risen to 48 people, with another 67 injured, according to local media.
"Today's direct attack on an English language class in Kabul, which killed or critically injured dozens of children aged between the ages of 16 and 18, is deplorable," Fore said. "This violence must stop. UNICEF continues to call on all parties to the conflict to adhere to and respect humanitarian principles, and ensure the safety and protection of all children. Children are not, and must never be the target of violence."
UNICEF is gravely concerned about the growing violence across Afghanistan, especially over the past week, where children continue to be the hardest hit, she added.
Humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF, or Doctors Without Borders) expressed their regret over the attack as well.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in an earlier statement said it was outraged by another attack targeting the Shia community.
Afghanistan has long been suffering from an unstable security situation. The government has been fighting the Taliban, which has been waging a war against Kabul for almost two decades, and the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia), which has been operating in Afghanistan since 2015.
