Afghanistan: UN envoy ‘appalled’ by suicide attack that killed many children

The top United Nations envoy to Afghanistan said today he was “appalled” by a suicide attack that killed 17 civilians, mostly children, and wounded many more in the southern province of Helmand, adding it was wrong when any conflict was played out in a civilian arena.

“The loss of so many lives is shocking and I know that all communities in Afghanistan will share my revulsion at this attack,” Tom Koenigs, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, said in a statement referring to the attack in Lashkar Gah.

“Afghanistan’s people have suffered enough. It is wrong for any conflict to be played out in a civilian arena.”

Mr. Koenigs warned the Security Council last month that Afghanistan faces a growing insurgency in the south, and called for international efforts to counter the threat posed by a movement that wants to overthrow the Government and return the country to the way it was under the Taliban.