(AFP) – The rescue, this summer, of dozens of Afghan youths destined to be trained as Taliban fighters has spotlighted how entrenched poverty is fuelling a renewable supply of child soldiers to endlessly replenish the insurgents’ ranks. Afghan forces freed almost 40 children during multiple raids near the Pakistani border. Officials said traffickers working with the […]
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(The Washington Post) – A Taliban suicide bomber struck at a bank not far from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, killing five people Tuesday as government employees lined up to withdraw salaries ahead of a religious holiday. Meanwhile, there were conflicting reports on deaths from an airstrike that sought to target a Taliban command post outside […]
(Reuters) – A four-year-old boy photographed in a Kabul mosque last week as police desperately tried to call him to safety during an attack by Islamic State gunmen is back with his family but still suffering nightmares, his father said. Ali Ahmad was with his grandfather in the Shi’ite Imam Zaman mosque on Friday when at […]
(AP) – The number of people killed in an attack on a Shiite mosque in the Afghan capital during Friday prayers rose to at least 28 — up from 20 — including women and children, the chief of Kabul’s hospitals said Saturday. Meanwhile, hundreds took part in the burial of two dozen victims in the mosque […]
(Huffington Post) – Fourteen years ago, on August 19, 2003, a suicide bomber drove a truck bomb into the offices of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, killing 22 people, wounding over 100, and damaging a nearby hospital. In tribute to aid workers risking their lives in service, the UN General Assembly designated August 19 […]
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Late last year, a bunker buster bomb shot through an underground shelter in Syria’s Hama province. A group of aid workers were taking shelter inside at the time. Nine of them, all Syrian, were killed instantly. In February, six Red Cross workers were shot dead in an ambush in northern Afghanistan while travelling through […]
(OCHA) – Attacks against health workers in conflict areas are on the rise. According to the World Health Organisation, 979 health workers were injured or killed in attacks in 2016, an increase on the year before. Despite the growing dangers, doctors, nurses and other health care workers continue to brave tremendous risks to treat the wounded and heal […]
(VoA) – The U.S. government oversight agency for operations in Afghanistan has requested the Pentagon declassify a report detailing alleged sexual abuse of children by Afghan soldiers. The request from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) says the report, which recently was issued to Congress, is classified because much of the information upon which […]
(RFE/RL) – Afghan officials say a Taliban suicide car bombing has killed at least 26 people and wounded 41 others in the capital, Kabul. The July 24 attack came as a presidential spokesman said the militant group also killed 35 civilians in an attack on a hospital in central Ghor Province over the weekend. Link
(UNAMA) – The number of civilians killed and injured in the Afghanistan conflict during the first six months of 2017 persisted at the same record high levels as last year, according to a mid-year report from the United Nations. Extreme harm to civilians continued amid a worsening toll from suicide attacks, and a greater impact […]
