Deploring latest Afghan attack, UN calls for perpetrators to be held accountable

The top United Nations envoy in Afghanistan has condemned the killing of at least eight civilians and the injuring of more than 200 in an attack that took place in Kabul today.

A truck heavily packed with explosive materials detonated in the Shah Shahid area of the capital in the middle of the night when people were home sleeping, according to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Among those killed and injured were women and children.

Nicholas Haysom, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA, reiterated the world body’s repeated calls for the immediate ban of weapons which kill and maim indiscriminately, and to cease attacks in civilian-populated areas.

“Those responsible for such attacks must be held accountable,” he said in a press statement.

“UNAMA extends its condolences to the families of all of those killed in the explosion and wishes a speedy recovery to those who were injured.”

In its latest report on civilian casualties, which was issued on Wednesday, the UN documented 4,921 civilian casualties (1,592 deaths and 3,329 injured) in the first half of 2015, a one per cent increase in total civilian casualties compared to the same period in 2014.

The vast majority – or 90 per cent – of civilian casualties resulted from ground engagements, improvised explosive devices, complex and suicide attacks and targeted killings, according to the 2015 Mid-year Report on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, produced by UNAMA and the UN human rights office (OHCHR).