News - Afghanistan

TOLOnews' April security report shows a 169 percent increase against last month in civilian casualties that were largely due to suicide bombings.
Last month, insurgents carried out 10 suicide bombings in Afghanistan, said the report - which has been compiled monthly since the withdrawal of foreign troops and the handover of security duties to the Afghan forces at the end of last year.
The survey found that a total of 254 civilians lost their lives due to suicide bombings, armed attacks, roadside mines and other insurgent-related incidents.
However, insurgents suffered the highest casualty toll during the month. In the month of April, 2,493 insurgents were killed by security forces, the report stated.
In addition, the number of insurgent activities increased by 154 percent against March.
Northwestern Faryab noted 65 insecurity incidents in April – proving to be the most insecure of provinces, followed by northern Kunduz – where more than 200 insurgents were killed over the past two weeks.
Helmand, Herat and Nangarhar were the three other most insecure provinces, while central Bamyan and Daikundi were the most safe provinces recording only a couple of incidents.
According to the report, over 900 insecurity incidents occurred throughout the country, showing an overall increase of 28 percent in insecurity occurrences against March.
The security forces launched 422 anti-insurgent operations throughout the country which resulted in the deaths of almost 2,500 insurgents.
Furthermore, the report stated that 247 security forces members were killed during the month – about a 32 percent increase as compared to March.
In addition to 72 incidents of roadside bombings and explosions, about 47 violence and kidnapping-related incidents occurred during the month.
Abduction incidents also continued to occur in different parts of the country. The report said 105 people were abducted during the month.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) spokesman Sediq Sediqqi admitted to an increase in insecurity incidents.
"They [insurgents] come out of their hideouts in this season and carry out attacks," Sediqqi said. "But the insurgents have always been defeated."
The report also stated that in addition to the attacks, over 300 families of foreign militants – fleeing Pakistan's anti-insurgent operations in Waziristan – are believed to have taken refuge in southern Zabul province.
Furthermore, the report quoted some local officials saying that nearly 5,000 foreign militants have moved from eastern Kunar and Nuristan provinces to northern provinces.
The northern provinces, especially Kunduz have been extremely unsafe over the past few weeks after the insurgents began their spring offensive in Imam Sahib and other remote districts of Kunduz.
Initially, many feared the province would fall into Taliban hands. But the situation was largely brought under control after security forces launched a massive operation about two weeks ago to flush out insurgents.