2007年VOA标准英语-UN Report Says Suicide Bombings on Rise in Afgh

A United Nations report says the number of suicide bombings in Afghanistan is rising fast and would this year likely reach a record high. As Daniel Schearf reports for VOA from Islamabad, the report says most Afghani suicide bombers¹ were trained, supported, and many recruited, in neighboring Pakistan.

Investigators2 check the scene after a suicide attack in Kabul, 31 Aug 2007<br />" hspace="2" src="http://www.tingroom.com/upimg/allimg/070914/0943110.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Investigators check the scene after a suicide attack in Kabul, 31 Aug 2007

The report also says that record high number is likely to be surpassed this year. In the first eight months there have already been 103 suicide attacks, with more expected.

The report says most suicide bombers were Afghani nationals but received training or support in neighboring Pakistan's tribal⁴ region where many were recruited from Islamic theology schools called madrassas.

Adrian Edwards is the spokesman for the U.N. mission in Afghanistan. He says suicide attacks have grown along with the insurgency⁵.

"They were allowed to strengthen if you like. They, to some degree, seem to have managed to occupy a geographic⁶ area along the border between these two countries. And, from there, that gives them a certain ability to carry out their acts with a high degree of impunity," said Edwards.

Pakistan has deployed⁷ tens of thousands of soldiers to the region to try to prevent militant⁸ activity but has so far failed to stop the training and movement of insurgents across the porous⁹ border.

The report, partly based on interviews with alleged¹⁰ failed suicide bombers in jail, said in contrast to most of the world's suicide bombers the majority of those in Afghanistan were young, poor, and uneducated, and often not aware of what they were getting into.

"In some cases they were duped. In some cases coerced," he added. "There were one or two who were committed. But, by and large these were not fantasists."

The report says although the vast majority of suicide bombers are aimed at military and government targets, around 80 percent of casualties are civilians¹¹.

It says to curb¹² the growth of suicide bombers the international community needs to bolster¹³ the role of Afghanistan's security forces, the building of basic public services, and the rule of law to prevent perceptions of foreign occupation and injustice¹⁴ that can turn people militant.

Afghanistan is facing its most violent period since the overthrow¹⁵ of the Taleban. Thousands have been killed in the last year in fighting between security forces and militants¹⁶.

This weekend, two British soldiers serving with NATO's mission in Afghanistan were killed and several others wounded in a Taleban attack south of Garmsir in the same province. The U.S. military also reports that U.S.-led coalition¹⁷ forces backed by war planes killed more than 30 suspected militants in the Garmsir area.