KABUL: Civilian casualties in Afghanistan rose by almost 30 per cent in the first three months of 2013, a UN envoy has said, describing a recent Taliban attack on court staff as a “war crime”.
Jan Kubis, UN special representative for Afghanistan, said the “troubling”rise, compared to the same period last year, followed a 12 per cent drop in civilian casualties over the whole of 2012.
He told a Nato ministerial briefing in Brussels on Tuesday that 475 civilians were killed and 872 wounded from January to March.
“I once again call on anti-government groups to cease targeting civilians, using children in suicide operations and attacking public places including places of worship,” Kubis said, in a copy of a speech released by the UN in Kabul.
