Germany: Federal Office for Migration and Asylum
15 July 2013
Security situation
On 25.06.13, several Taliban fighters attacked the presidential palace in Kabul. After explosions and gunfire erupted for more than an hour, the attackers were killed. On 01.07.13, an attack in northern Baghlan province claimed the lives of a district police chief and of three police officers. In the capital Kabul, members of the security forces killed a suicide bomber before he was able to detonate himself in front of the National Directorate of Security NDS. In western Badghis province, Taliban attacked three border checkpoints; twelve insurgents were killed and three police officers wounded. On 02.07.13, one week after the attack on the presidential palace, at least eleven people died when the Taliban attacked a civil logistics company contracted by ISAF in Kabul. Among the victims were four Nepalese and an Afghan guard and two Afghan truck drivers. On 04.07.13, a bomb blast killed four girls attending a wedding in southern Helmand province. The attack appears to have been targeted at government officials attending the wedding ceremony. On 04.07.13, one of the most high-profile female police officers in Afghanistan was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in southern Helmand province. On 05.07.13, a suicide attack in Tarin Kot, capital of southern Uruzgan province, claimed the lives of at least 12 police officers. In another suicide attack in neighbouring Kandahar province, a civilian and a police officer were killed. On 07./08.07.13, bomb attacks were launched on Afghan security forces in Helmand, Kandahar, Paktika, Kunar, Kabul, Logar, Zabul and Baghlan provinces, leaving at least 16 Afghan soldiers dead and three wounded. On 09.07.13, a lorry was struck by a roadside bomb in western Herat province, leaving 17 civilians dead and seven others injured. On 11.07.13, two roadside bombs killed three civilians and two policemen in southern Helmand province.
The Afghan interior ministry has released information that during the last Afghan calendar month (ending on 20.06.13), a total of 299 security officers were killed; this is an increase of 22 percent compared to the same time period of the previous year. Additionally, 618 soldiers and police officers were injured, the report went on. 753 Taliban militants were killed and 305 were arrested. Also, 180 civilians were killed. The website icasualties.org reported that 24 IAF soldiers were killed. Last year, roughly 3,400 Afghan police officers and soldiers had lost their lives (2011: around 1,950 fatalities), the Afghan government stated. This increase is most likely connected to the transfer of security responsibilities to the Afghan forces and the gradual withdrawal of international forces.
Read briefing notes on the other listed countries here.