U.N. envoy Tadamichi Yamamoto called the spiraling number of civilian casualties “deeply disturbing and wholly unacceptable.”Tens of thousands of Afghan civilians live as refugees in their own country after fleeing fighting in their home provinces. The report said civilian casualties at the hands of Afghan and international forces were up significantly in 2018 compared to 2017. “For the first time since 2009 when it began systematically documenting civilian casualty figures, UNAMA recorded more than 1,000 civilian casualties from aerial operations,” the report said. Last year “witnessed the highest number of civilian casualties ever recorded from suicide attacks and aerial operations,” according to the report. Since the U.N. began documenting civilian casualties 10 years ago, more than 32,000 civilians have been killed and another 60,000 wounded.

Source: National Post February 24, 2019 06:00 UTC