On September 2nd 2019, a suicide car bomb hit a residential area in central Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital. The attack killed at least 16 and wounded more than 119.
Gunfire was heard in the aftermath of the blast and a secondary explosion was caused when a nearby petrol station caught fire.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
The bombing targeted a neighbourhood near Green Village, a large compound housing aid agencies and international organisations. Green Village is a frequent target of attacks. However, the main victims of these attacks are typically local Afghan civilians.
Local residents launched protests demanding that the heavily fortified compound be moved.
Violence continues to escalate in Afghanistan and the capital appears to be the worst impacted.
In July 2019, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) recorded over 1,000 civilian casualties from explosive violence in Afghanistan.
This was the highest number of monthly civilian casualties recorded in Afghanistan since AOAV began monitoring casualties from explosive violence in October 2010.
Civilians accounted for 66% (1,013) of the total casualties from explosive violence (1,540). Of the civilians killed and injured, 89% (901) were from improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Suicide attacks alone were responsible over half of all civilian casualties (53%).
Kabul was the city most impacted in July 2019, with almost a third of all civilian casualties occurring in the capital (30%).
In the first seven months of 2019 as a whole, there were 2,340 civilian casualties from explosive violence in the beleaguered nation. There were at least 21 suicide attacks in this time, responsible for 1,051 casualties – of which civilians account for 70%.
Despite such levels of harm in Afghanistan, AOAV have also found that the UK media often fails to record the casualties caused in this violence.
AOAV calls for states and international organisations to work collaboratively to generate greater awareness of the number of civilians killed and injured by IEDs, and encourage a greater stigma from political, religious and social leaders on the use of IEDs.
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