At least 161 children have been killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of 2016 in increased fighting between pro-government forces and the Taliban, the UN said. 

It’s a 29-percent of increase compared to the first three months of 2015.

“In the first quarter of 2016, almost one third of civilian casualties were children,”Danielle Bell, human rights director of the United Nations Assistance Mission In Afghanistan (UNAMA), was quoted by RT as saying.

The director added that the Mission has documented a 29-percent increase in child casualties compared to the same period in 2015. 

In the first quarter of 2016 UNAMA recorded 610 children casualties – 161 deaths and 449 injured.

The number of child deaths is much higher than the number of those for women, the organization said. A five-percent increase in women casualties in the first quarter of 2016 resulted in 195 women casualties – 52 deaths and 143 injured.

Source: MENA