AFGHAN GROUP: 1,100 CIVILIANS KILLED IN 1ST HALF OF 2010
Baku, July 13 (AZERTAC). An Afghan human-rights group says in a new report that nearly 1,100 civilians were killed in Afghanistan in the first half of this year, an increase from the same period in 2009.
Afghanistan Rights Monitor reports about six Afghan civilians were killed and eight others wounded each day in conflict-related incidents in the first half of this year. The group`s mid-year report says insurgents are responsible for more than 60 percent of the recorded civilian deaths. The weapons of choice are Improvised Explosive Devices, which killed more civilians than any other war activity, followed by suicide attacks.
Officials with the international forces say from June 1 to July 10, insurgents killed 464 civilians, while NATO troops killed 42. According to the Afghanistan Rights Monitor report, NATO troops killed more than 200 civilians in the past six months. Analysts say these groups are leading a strengthening insurgency in Afghanistan that killed more than 100 international troops last month. This was the highest number of NATO deaths since the start of the war nearly nine years ago.
Alongside these military losses, Afghanistan Rights Monitor`s Ajmal Samadi says his group found the worsening security situation continues to disrupt essential services, such as health and education, for Afghan civilians.
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