UN: 25-percent increase in Afghan children killed in 2016
The number of children killed in Afghanistan's conflict rose by 25 percent in 2016, according to the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan.
The 2016 Annual Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan, released on Monday, documents an overall 3-percent rise in civilian casualties — both deaths and injuries — from the previous year.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) attributed the disproportionate spike in child casualties in 2016 mainly to a 66-percent increase in casualties from left-over or discarded munitions. The report states that 923 children in Afghanistan were killed in 2016, a 25-percent increase from the previous year. The number of children injured rose by about 23 percent. Overall it was the highest number of casualties among children ever recorded in a single year by UNAMA.