Kabul: in 10 years almost 50 thousand dead from attacks with explosives

The death toll of the two attacks on the Hamid Karzai International Airport, claimed by the Afghan branch of Isis, has risen to 90. A drama that comes from afar: for years Afghanistan has been plaugued by bomb attacks. In 2020 Afghanistan was the country with the most civilian casualties in the world, in 2019 the worst year with over 4 thousand deaths.

Kabul (AsiaNews/Agencies) - At least 90 people were killed and more than 150 wounded when two bombs exploded near Hamid Karzai's airport in Kabul. The Pentagon confirmed that 13 American soldiers were among the victims, while the rest were mostly civilians including many women and children. The attack was claimed by the Afghan branch of Isis ( Isis-K or Iskp, Islamic State of Khorasan Province).

But bombings and suicide attacks are nothing new in Afghanistan, on the contrary: according to Action on Armed Violence (Aoav, a project that monitors violence caused by explosive devices in the world), in 2020 Afghanistan was found to be the country with the most civilian casualties in the world. In fact, from 2011 to 2020, the Aoav recorded 49,039 deaths and injuries from explosions. Of these, 28,356 (58%) were civilians. Most of the killings (79%) were caused by homemade bombs and suicide attacks, while airstrikes accounted for 8% of civilian deaths.

The worst year on record to date was 2019 with 4,628 casualties. 

According to the latest Aoav report, violence has been increasing over the years. In the period 2011-2015, explosive attacks (1,159 in total) were responsible for killing 80% of civilians. In the following two years, the number of victims of homemade devices increased by 42%. In the two-year period 2018-2019 the situation deteriorated further: Afghanistan in those years turned out to be the second country in the world in terms of explosive violence after Syria, but the number of victims was still double that of the next country in this tragic ranking, namely Yemen.

Taking into consideration the entire period of the Aoav project, Afghanistan is the third country after Iraq and Syria for the number of victims caused by bombs.