By Sharif Amiry in TOLO News, 09 Nov, 2020 at 8:26 PM
The US Special Inspector for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) in a new report quoting the Resolute Support says 876 civilians were killed and 1,685 were wounded this from July 1 to September 30, 2020.
In line with the continued rise in violence, this quarter’s casualties increased by 43% compared to last quarter (April 1–June 30, 2020), the report says.
The report says that though casualties are typically high in the third quarter of any year, this quarter’s high figures are notable because they occurred during an ongoing peace process and despite Taliban commitments to reduce violence.
According to the report, RS attributed about 83% of this quarter’s civilian casualties to anti-government forces (40% to unknown insurgents, 38% to the Taliban, 3% to Islamic State-Khorasan [Daesh], and 2% to the Haqqani Network), roughly the same as last quarter’s breakdown.
Another 8% were attributed to pro-government forces (8% to ANDSF and no incidents attributed to Coalition forces), and about 8% to other or unknown forces, the report says.
Therefore, the report says, most of the increase in civilian casualties compared to last quarter was attributed to unknown insurgents- (55% increase) and Taliban-caused casualties (42% increase).
However, casualties attributed to the ANDSF also more than doubled compared to last quarter (to 212 casualties), according to the report.
Improvised-explosive device incidents continued to account for the majority of civilian casualties (41%), followed by direct fire (29%), and indirect fire (12%), the report says.
While the 117 civilian casualties from AAF air strikes accounted for only 5% of the total number of casualties this quarter, it reflects a 457% increase compared to last quarter.
According to United States Forces-Afghanistan (USFOR-A), average daily enemy-initiated attacks this quarter were 50% higher compared to last quarter. Overall enemy-initiated attacks were also “above seasonal norms.”
Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry said that 27 provinces witnessed security incidents in the last 24 hours.
Violence has remained high in various parts of the country amidst ongoing efforts to move the peace process forward.
The Defense Ministry on Sunday said that clashes are ongoing in the southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan for the last few weeks.
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-167644
