KABUL - The European Union and member states on Monday voiced its grave concern over the continued high number of targeted attacks against Afghan civilians, mostly blamed on insurgents.
Parties to the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan should do their utmost to eliminate civilian casualties, the EU said in a statement, which asked the militants to immediately stop targeted civilian killings.
UNAMA’s annual report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan paints a grievous picture of the conflict,saying the collateral damage had hit a record high since 2009.
"After a very bad 2015, in January we witnessed further increases with several targeted attacks in Kabul on media staff and civilians,” EU Special Representative Ambassador Franz-Michael Mellbin said.
In a statement, he deplored indiscriminate and random attacks killed and injured more and more innocent Afghans. This clear breach of international humanitarian law must stop immediately, he stressed.
Mellbin also asked the rebels to stop enforcing cruel and inhuman extrajudicial punishments such as executions and lashings to punish women for moral crimes.
All parties were urged to abide by international humanitarian law and revisit their rules of engagement in order to see what measures could be taken to bring down civilian casualties.
The UNAMA report lists 11002 civilian casualties in 2015. One in ten civilian casualties was a woman and one in four a child. Ground engagements continued to cause the highest number of civilian casualties. (Pajhwok)