Afghan Violence Leaves 460 Civilians Casualties in Kandahar, 104 Dead in Lashkar Gah - UN

UNITED NATIONS, (Sputnik) - Fighting in Afghanistan has led to 460 civilian casualties in Kandahar with 104 killed in Lashkar Gah, UN Special Representative for Afghanistan Deborah Lyons on Friday.

"Fighting has been especially severe in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. Since July 28, just a mere 10 days ago at least 104 civilians were killed and 403 wounded as registered by the two main hospitals", Lyons said at a United Nations Security Council meeting. "In Kandahar, since the start of the offensive there on July 9, a month ago, more than 460 civilians casualties have been registered."

The representative went on to say that further, to the west, in and around Herat, UNAMA has credible reports of over 135 civilian casualties from the onset of the Taliban* offensive.

"Just in these three cases, I am talking of over 1000 casualties just in this last month", she said.

She went on to say that homes, his totals, bridges and other infrastructure are being destroyed, saying the nature of the conflict in the country has changed.

"This is now a different kind of war, reminiscent of Syria recently", she said. "To attack urban areas is to knowingly inflict enormous harm and cause massive civilian casualties."

Violence in Afghanistan has been on the rise since foreign troops began to withdraw from the country. The troop pullout was a premise of the agreement reached by the Taliban and the United States in Doha in February of last year, conditional upon the radical group ceasing violence and cutting ties with terrorist organizations.

*Taliban is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries