By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, March 10 (Reuters) - Militant attacks in Afghanistan increased dramatically last year, with civilians accounting for nearly a fifth of people killed, the U.N. secretary-general said in a new report. In a report to the U.N. Security Council made available on Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said there were an average of 566 "insurgent and terrorist" incidents per month last year compared with 425 per month in 2006. "Of the over 8,000 conflict-related fatalities in 2007, over 1,500 were civilians," Ban said in the report, which was dated March 6. He said there had been a shift in tactics in 2007, with militants focusing on small-scale "asymmetric" attacks on the Afghan army and, in some cases, civilians. Militants' tactics included "improvised explosive devices, suicide attacks, assassinations and abductions," he said. There were 160 suicide attacks last year, along with 68 thwarted attacks, compared with 123 suicide attacks and 17 failed ones in 2006, Ban's report said. "Of particular concern has been the increase in the number of attacks against local and international humanitarian workers," Ban said. Over 40 convoys delivering food aid for the U.N. World Food Program were attacked and looted in 2007, the report said. "In over 130 attacks against humanitarian programmes, 40 humanitarian workers were killed and 89 abducted, of whom seven were later killed by their captors," Ban said. He said the government of Afghanistan continued to face serious challenges. "The Taliban and related armed groups and the drug economy represent fundamental threats to still-fragile political, economic and social institutions," Ban said. He said that 36 of 376 districts, including most districts in the east, southeast and south, remained virtually inaccessible to Afghan officials and aid workers. "This hinders the delivery of humanitarian assistance to vulnerable people, a situation exacerbated by the harsh weather conditions of the past few months," Ban said. He added that poor governance and limited development efforts, especially at the local and provincial levels, was resulting in "political alienation that both directly and indirectly sustains anti-government elements." However, Ban said that coordination between Afghan and NATO forces had improved. As expected, Ban recommended that the Security Council extend for another year the mandate for the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, which expires on March 23. The United States led an invasion of Afghanistan 2001 to topple the Taliban government after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 on the United States. (Editing by )
Protesters burn Danish and Dutch flags during a demonstration in Herat province March 8, 2008. About 15,000 people protested in Afghanistan on Saturday to condemn the reprinting of a cartoon of ...
