Xinhua, January 24, 2011

Non-combatants bear brunt of Afghan war as 38 civilians killed last week

Only in a single day - last Wednesday, according to Bashari, a total of 80 people including 27 civilians were killed

The number of civilian casualties has been soaring in the militancy-plagued Afghanistan as Interior Ministry had registered 38 civilian fatalities in the past one week, spokesman for the ministry Zamarai Bashari said Sunday.

An Afghan boy who was injured in a bomb blast on November 20, 2009 lies in hospital in Farah, western Afghanistan. (Photo: Stringer/Afghanistan/Reuters)

"In the past one week a total of 38 civilians had been killed across the country that indicates 31 percent rise in compare with the previous week," Bashari told a weekly press briefing here.

The casualties inflicted to civilians, is counted from last Sunday Jan. 16 to Jan. 22.

According to Bashari, the number of civilian casualties, registered in the previous week, counted from Jan. 9 until Jan. 15 was 26.

He also added that 32 more non-combatants including women and children had been injured over the past week in Taliban-linked militancy throughout the post-Taliban Afghanistan.

Over the past week, Bashari added that police had registered 56 terrorist attacks including suicide bombings, Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts and roadside bombs elsewhere in Afghanistan.

Only in a single day - last Wednesday, according to Bashari, a total of 80 people including 27 civilians were killed.

Just a roadside bomb on Jan. 19 in country's eastern Paktika province left 13 civilians including women and children dead when a rickshaw or three-wheel vehicle ran over a mine, planted by militants on a road in Khushamand district.

On the same day four border policemen were also killed as a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in Zabul province 340 km south of capital Kabul.

More than 2,000 civilians had lost their lives in security incidents in Afghanistan in 2010, according to Afghan Interior Ministry.

Over the past week, according to the Interior Ministry spokesman Bashari, 132 Taliban militants and 12 Afghan policemen had been killed.

According to Bashari, police had also registered a total of 136 criminal cases over the past week across the country and detained 144 suspects.

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