Friday February 28, 2020
Kabul (BNA) Civilian casualties in Afghanistan dropped by 5% in 2019, mainly due to a sharp decrease in the number of civilians killed or wounded by the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) militant group, according to a 22 February report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
In its annual report for 2019 UNAMA said it documented 10,392 civilian casualties (3,403 killed and 6,989 injured) as a result of the armed conflict in the Central Asian country. The figure represents not only a 5% decrease compared with 2018 but also the lowest overall level of civilian casualties since 2013.
That said, the figure also marks the sixth year in a row that the number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan exceeded 10,000, with UNAMA stating that it has registered more than 100,000 civilian casualties – more than 35,000 killed and 65,000 injured – since it began systematic documentation of the figures in 2009.
Janes
