The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday, March 6th that 56 Afghan civilians had been killed—nearly half of them children—since hostilities with neighboring Pakistan intensified last week.
Senior official Volker Türk declared
I plead with all parties to bring an end to the conflict, and to prioritise helping those experiencing extreme hardship.
The neighbouring states have clashed along the frontier since February 26th, when Afghanistan launched a border offensive in retaliation for Pakistani air strikes. In response, Islamabad has hit back along the border and with fresh air strikes, bombing multiple sites including the former U.S. air base at Bagram, the capital Kabulm and the southern city of Kandahar.
Casualty figures show that since the start of the year, 69 civilians were killed and 141 injured in Afghanistan. However, Pakistan insists it has not killed any civilians in the conflict. Ultimately, casualty claims from both sides remain difficult to verify independently.
