Afghan child casualties soar as urban warfare escalates

Kabul / AP

Child casualties have soared in Afghanistan this year as the Taliban stepped up attacks in urban areas, the United Nations said on Sunday, branding the figures “appalling”. Between January and March, 161 children were killed and 449 others injured—a 29 percent increase from a year earlier—the UN’s mission in Afghanistan said in a report. Danielle Bell, the mission’s human rights director, said women and children have suffered the most as the insurgents have launched more bomb attacks in populated areas.