Civilian Deaths In Afghanistan Reach Record Levels

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has announced that 1,692 civilians were killed in Afghanistan in the first six months of 2018, the highest number for the midpoint of any year since the UN started documenting casualties in 2009. Despite the increase in deaths, overall casualties did decrease three percent from last year with a further 3,430 civilians injured.

The use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by anti-government groups was the leading cause of death among Afghan civilians between January and the end of June. The combined use of suicide and non-suicide IEDs caused almost half of all civilian casualties recorded. UNAMA attributed 52 percent all civilian casualties this year to attacks from Daesh/ISKP. The Taliban were responsible for 40 percent while the rest were caused by unidentified groups.