South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR), a regional network of human rights defenders, strongly condemns the targeting of civilians, including children, by the Taliban, the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL) and other militant groups.
On 15 August 2018, a suicide bomber affiliated with ISIL reportedly targeted a school in a Shia community in Kabul, killing at least 48 people and injuring many more. The victims, aged 16-20 were mostly teenagers and young adults. The killing of children is an unimaginable crime and all entities that were directly and indirectly involved in the crime are responsible for it.
This heinous attack is merely the latest in an unrelenting string of attacks on civilian targets since the beginning of this year. According to the United Nations, the civilian death toll in Afghanistan has reached a record high of 1629 in the period of January to June 2018.
SAHR and other human rights organizations can only appeal to the international community, in particular SAARC Governments, to categorically condemn such attacks and cooperate with the Afghan Government to systematically root out civilian-targeting terrorists organisations.
On behalf of the members of South Asians for Human Rights:
Sultana Kamal
Chairperson
Mohamed Latheef
Co-chairperson