File Photo: Afghan policemen leave the site of an attack in Jalalabad city, Afghanistan.
War-ravaged Afghanistan witnessed a record numbers of civilian casualties in the first six months of 2018, according to a UN report released Sunday.
Again urging parties to the conflict to protect the civilian population and reach a peaceful settlement, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) confirmed 5,122 civilian casualties (1,692 deaths and 3,430 injured), which is the most recorded in the first half of the year since it began documenting civilian casualties in 2009.
At least seven Pakistan paramilitary troops and four Afghan militia were killed in the latest border skirmish close to the disputed Durand Line between the two neighbors, officials said on on Sunday.Abdul Baseer, spokesman for the Afghan National Police (ANP) in the southeastern Khost province, told Anadolu Agency that an armed assault began this morning with alleged indiscriminate shelling on the Zazai Maidan district by Pakistani forces from across the Durand Line.According to local Salam Afghanistan radio, Pakistani troops wearing civilian dress allegedly came into Khost and started shooting at Afghan forces.What happened night of July 15 at Turkey's parliament?Pakistan generally does not comment on such border skirmishes.In April, Afghan authorities handed over to Pakistan a captured Pakistani border guard and the dead bodies of five Pakistani troops slain during clashes in the same area.1st convoy of regime opponents leaves Syria’s DaraaBack then, both sides gave conflicting death tolls and accused each other of opening fire on their troops along the disputed 2,430-kilometer (1,510-mile) border region known as the Durand Line, named after British colonial officer Sir Mortimer Durand, who drew it in 1896 between then-British India and Afghanistan.
11 killed in Afghan, Pakistani border skirmish
This came despite an unprecedented three-day holiday cease-fire by the Afghan government and Taliban in June.
“The brief cease-fire demonstrated that the fighting can be stopped and that Afghan civilians no longer need to bear the brunt of the war,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN secretary-general’s special representative for Afghanistan.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed veterans and the families of martyrs at a ceremony hosted at the Presidential Complex to mark July 15 Democracy and National Unity Day. Turkey marks the second anniversary of the defeated coup attempt, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured, on Sunday.“We have more opportunities to repay our debt to our martyrs. We look to our future with much more hope than we did yesterday,” Erdoğan said.“We will not allow July 15 to be forgotten, nor will we forget. The gravity of the struggle that our nation gave for its independence and future will be better understood over time,” he added.Erdoğan recites Quran for martyrs of July 15 coupThe president hailed the courage of the Turkish public who repelled the putsch by pouring onto the streets following Erdoğan’s call to resist. “Attempts by some to diminish July 15’s importance is a manifestation of the hatred they nurture toward our nation and our people,” Erdoğan said. “Those who want to uncover the secret of our people’s heroism demonstrated on the night of July 15 should look to our great struggle which has spanned centuries. Our people are tired of losing what they gained on the field, with their blood, to word games, diplomacy traps, heedlessness and even betrayal. We will not lose!” he added.Later in the evening, Erdoğan will attend a rally at Istanbul’s July 15 Martyrs Bridge to mark the second anniversary of the failed coup attempt.Erdoğan pens letter to families of July 15 martyrsTurkey’s great struggle against FETÖCounterterrorism efforts“This year, Turkey neutralized close to 1,400 terrorists domestically and in northern Iraq. Approximately 4,600 PKK and PYD terrorists were neutralized in Operation Olive Branch,” Erdoğan said.Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on January 20 in Syria’s northwestern Afrin region. The aim of the operation is to establish security and stability along Turkish borders and the region as well as to eliminate PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG and Daesh terror groups, and protect the Syrian people from the oppression and cruelty of terrorists.The YPG is the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK. The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.“The only target of terror groups like FETÖ, PKK and Daesh is our nation’s unity. I will not end with FETÖ. We will find them everywhere they hide. There is no stopping,” the president added.
We will not allow July 15 to be forgotten, nor will we forget: Erdoğan
The use of suicide and non-suicide IEDs caused nearly half of all civilian casualties, the report stated, while blaming 52 percent of casualties on Daesh. The Taliban were responsible for 40 percent.