US has dropped 3000 bombs in Afghanistan over last few months, HRW raises concerns over civilian deaths
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KABUL - Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday raised deep concerns over the possible increase in the civilian casualties in Afghanistan amid the surge in the US air strikes on insurgents.
Patricia Gossman, a senior researcher for HRW in Afghanistan, said the reports relating the number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan is lacking transparency, adding that there is a need to investigate each one of the cases.
“It’s our concern that there is already an increase in the air strikes. What we have seen is that the percentages of civilian casualties seem to be going up and among them more women and children are being killed which does indicate that there are civilians being hit,” said Gossman.
Meanwhile, officials of the ministry of defense have said that the Afghan security forces are taking all possible measures to ensure the security and safety of the civilians during the counter-terrorism operations.
“Initially there was a lot of concern among the people that over forty or fifty civilians were killed. We announced this by quoting the people, but later the number of people killed, was reduced to nineteen,” said Khosh Mohammad, member of Kunduz provincial council.
This comes few weeks after reports from the northeastern province of Kunduz said that several civilians had been killed in an air strike in a village in the province by the foreign forces.
“All commanders and personnel have been directed to ensure the safety of civilians,” said MoD deputy spokesman Mohammad Radmanish.
Previously reports surfaced in media that the US had dropped over 3,000 bombs on the insurgents in Afghanistan since the start of the current year until the end of October, a figure which shows a visible increase in the number of attacks compared to a year before.
Statistics show that over 1 600 were killed in the wars in Afghanistan in the first six months of the current year, a figure which is unprecedented in recent years in the country.
Patricia Gossman, a senior researcher for HRW in Afghanistan, said the reports relating the number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan is lacking transparency, adding that there is a need to investigate each one of the cases.
“It’s our concern that there is already an increase in the air strikes. What we have seen is that the percentages of civilian casualties seem to be going up and among them more women and children are being killed which does indicate that there are civilians being hit,” said Gossman.
Meanwhile, officials of the ministry of defense have said that the Afghan security forces are taking all possible measures to ensure the security and safety of the civilians during the counter-terrorism operations.
“Initially there was a lot of concern among the people that over forty or fifty civilians were killed. We announced this by quoting the people, but later the number of people killed, was reduced to nineteen,” said Khosh Mohammad, member of Kunduz provincial council.
This comes few weeks after reports from the northeastern province of Kunduz said that several civilians had been killed in an air strike in a village in the province by the foreign forces.
“All commanders and personnel have been directed to ensure the safety of civilians,” said MoD deputy spokesman Mohammad Radmanish.
Previously reports surfaced in media that the US had dropped over 3,000 bombs on the insurgents in Afghanistan since the start of the current year until the end of October, a figure which shows a visible increase in the number of attacks compared to a year before.
Statistics show that over 1 600 were killed in the wars in Afghanistan in the first six months of the current year, a figure which is unprecedented in recent years in the country.