Wed, August 08, 2012
KABUL, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Civilians casualties in the conflict- ridden Afghanistan dropped down in the first six months of the current year against the same period in 2011, a report of United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released here on Wednesday said.
"Between January 1 and June 30, 2012, in conflict -- related violent incidents, 1,145 civilians were killed and 1,954 injured -- a 15 percent decrease in overall civilian casualties compared with the same period in 2011," the report readout by James Rodehaver, Head of UNAMA Human Rights Unit found.
In the first six months of 2011 the number of casualties had been registered with 1,510 killed and 2,144 injured.
Eighty percent of the casualties in the "Midyear Report for 2012 on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict" were attributed to the anti-government militants, noting 882 civilians were killed and 1,593 others injured by anti-government militants during the first six months of 2012, down 15 percent from the first six months of 2011.
Ten percent of the total number of the civilian casualties attributed to the pro-government forces in 2012 -- reflecting a 25 percent reduction compared with the same period of 2011. The remaining 10 percent civilian casualties could not be attributed to any party of the conflict, the reported added.
Speaking on the occasion of launching the report, Nicholas Haysom, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan called on the warring sides in Afghanistan to protect civilians and do their best to farther reduce civilian casualties.
"I call on all parties to the conflict to increase their efforts to protect civilians from harm and to respect the sanctity of human life," Haysom said.
