Killings of Civilians in Afghanistan Mount

Amidst warnings from the United Nations that civilian deaths in Afghanistan are skyrocketing, a Taliban bomb killed sixteen members from one family.

A crude bomb destroyed a minibus in the Arghandab district that was en route to the Shah Agha shrine in Kandahar province that is popular with holiday-makers,

The fatalities included eight children and three women. No one survived the deadly blast.

Aside from this tragedy, Afghanistan witnessed at least another deadly bombing on Saturday. A suicide attacker killed a senior police official outside of a police station in Khost. Three others also died.

The UN stated that in the month of May alone, 368 Afghan civilians were killed and almost 600 wounded in the ongoing.
About 300 of those deaths are estimated to have been committed by insurgents seeking to topple the western-endorsed government in Kabul.

This past May is believed to be the worst month for killings since record-keeping began four years. The actual death toll might be far higher since many murders occur in remote, inaccessible parts of the mountainous nation.

Georgette Gagnon, director of human rights for the UN in Afghanistan, told reporter: “We are very concerned that civilian suffering will increase even more over the summer fighting season which historically brings the highest numbers of civilian casualties.”