The UN children’s agency has said at least 27 children have been killed and 136 injured across three provinces of Afghanistan during the past three days amid escalating violence.
“UNICEF is shocked by the rapid escalation of grave violations against children in Afghanistan,” UNICEF country representative Hervé Ludovic De Lys said in an emailed statement.
The atrocities grow higher by the day.”
The deaths and injuries were reported in Kandahar, Khost and Pakria provinces.
Media workers targeted
Last month the NAI report at least 30 journalists and media workers have been killed, wounded or abducted by militant groups in Afghanistan this year.
In southern Helmand province, officials said Taliban fighters had seized a local journalist, Nematullah Hemat, from his home in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, on Sunday.
“There is just absolutely no clue where the Taliban have taken Hemat…we are really in a state of panic, said Razwan Miakhel, head of private TV channel, Gharghasht TV where Hemat was employed.
A Taliban spokesperson told Reuters that he had no information on either the killing in Kabul or the abducted journalist in Helmand.
A coalition of Afghan news organizations have written to US President Joe Biden and leaders in the House of Representatives, urging them to grant special immigration visas to Afghan journalists and support staff.
The Taliban seized three northern cities over the weekend and were threatening to capture more, ramping up an offensive against Afghan government forces that followed Washington’s announcement that it would end its military mission in the country by the end of the month.
