UN reports record number of Afghan civilian casualties in 2017 attacks

Nearly 2,300 civilians were killed or wounded in suicide bombings and attacks in Afghanistan in 2017 – more than any previous year of the conflict, according to a UN report. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Thursday that civilian deaths across the country dipped by nine percent in 2017, with a total of 10,453 civilian casualties including 3,438 deaths and 7,015 wounded, AFP said. As the Taliban and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) have come under more pressure, they have increasingly carried out indiscriminate assaults in cities, and casualties from suicide bombings and attacks jumped by 17 percent. The previous year recorded “the highest number of civilian casualties from suicide and complex attacks in a single year in Afghanistan,” the report said, with 605 killed and 1,690 wounded from such incidents.