On July 28th 2019, a suicide bombing followed by a gun attack at the vice presidential candidate’s office in Kabul, Afghanistan, left at least 20 dead and 50 injured.
Amrullah Saleh, the running mate of Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani, was slightly injured in the attack.
The suicide bomber detonated outside the office at rush hour, before three gunmen entered the building. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.
It is unclear how many casualties were caused by the initial blast, rather than the following gun battle.
AOAV records casualties (i.e. people killed and injured) from explosive violence around the world as reported in English-language news sources.
Violence in Afghanistan has significantly escalated over the last few weeks. In July so far, AOAV has recorded over 1,000 casualties from explosive violence – of which over 75% were civilians.
The level of civilian casualties in Afghanistan is over twice the level seen in any of the previous months this year. In fact, the civilian casualties recorded this month makes it the worst month for civilian casualties from explosive violence in Afghanistan that AOAV has ever recorded.
Over 86% of the civilian casualties from explosive violence in Afghanistan so far this year were caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
AOAV calls for states and international organisations to work collaboratively to generate greater awareness of the number of civilians killed and injured each year by IEDs, and encourage a greater stigma from political, religious and social leaders on the use of IEDs. There is an urgent need for preventative measures to be implemented by States and the international community.
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