Kabul: As many as 57 people have been killed and 342 others injured in cross-border armed violence in Afghanistan between April 1 to June 30, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Tuesday.
In a report, the UNAMA said airstrikes and ground engagements were the primary causes of civilian harm. It attributed all cross-border civilian casualties recorded during this period to Pakistani security forces.
According to the UNAMA’s update on civilian casualties in Afghanistan from April-June, the casualties included 112 children (26 killed and 86 injured) and 40 women (six killed and 34 injured).
In the statement, the UN agency stated, “The largest number of civilian casualties were caused by airstrikes carried out by Pakistani security forces in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces on June 28, followed by shelling in Kunar province between April 27 to 29 April.”
Tensions have escalated between Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past few months, with repeated exchanges of fire and growing concerns over civilian casualties.
On July 15, US-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for an impartial investigation into possible war crimes following Pakistan’s recent strikes in Afghanistan, expressing grave concern over civilian casualties.
The rights body noted that although civilian casualties alone are not conclusive evidence of “laws-of-war violations”, such reports of civilian deaths heightened the urgent need for independent probes of “possible war crimes by either attacking or defending forces.”
“International humanitarian law requires warring parties to take all feasible precautions to minimise civilian harm. Attacking forces must at all times distinguish between civilians and civilian objects on the one hand, and combatants and military objectives on the other, and only target the latter,” the HRW stated.
“Defending forces must, to the extent feasible, protect civilians under their control from the effects of attack, including by avoiding locating military objectives near densely populated areas. However, violations by one side do not relieve the other of its own obligations,” it added.
(IANS)
