According to the Red Cross, the last six days have seen a minimum of 250 civilians killed in Afghanistan, either as a result of militant action, or allied strikes.

Consequently, it has urged both sides to ensure civilian fatalities do not occur.

Afghan Fatalities

Independent to the Red Cross statistics, NATO has just said that, since the start of the year, 900 people – civilians among them – have been killed in Afghanistan.

On July 6^th, over 40 fatal injuries ensued when a suicide bomber struck Kabul. According to officials, meanwhile, a large number of casualties occurred earlier this month during a pair of allied airstrikes.

The topic of fatalities among the Afghan civilian population is a massively sensitive one.

Hamid Karzai, the country’s President, has made repeated calls for more care to be taken.

Red Cross Statement

In a statement issued by the Red Cross, it insisted civilians "must never be the target of an attack, unless they take a direct part in the fighting.”

Franz Rauchenstein, the group’s top figure based in Kabul, added: “We call on all parties to the conflict, in the conduct of their military operations, to distinguish at all times between civilians and fighters and to take constant care to spare civilians."

All sides, said the report, "must take all necessary precautions to verify that targets are indeed military objectives and that attacks will not cause excessive civilian casualties and damage.”

Additionally, the report wrote of its concern over “...the reportedly high number of civilian casualties resulting from the recent [coalition] air strikes in the east of the country.”

Taliban – Explosion not us

The Taliban has said the Kabul explosion earlier this week was not its work, while allied forces have denied links to civilian deaths having occurred during the airstrikes.

Source – Armed Forces International’s Middle East Correspondent

Photo by Mark Schweizer