Afghanistan: Violence escalates in first days of 2016

Kabul, Afghanistan. Yesterday, in the space of only a few hours, there were two attacks on the capital’s airport. Five victims of the second blast, which took place in the afternoon, were taken to the EMERGENCY Surgical Centre for War Victims, where the staff activated the mass casualty plan, the protocol which is followed in the event of a mass influx of wounded patients.

After a year in which the numbers of war victims have continued to grow, the first days of 2016 already suggest a further escalation of the conflict and the violence.

Yesterday’s attacks, in fact, took place only a week after another attack, again at the airport, and only a few days after the New Year’s Day attack on the restaurant, “Le Jardin“. Fifteen victims of this attack were brought to our hospital. One of them was a 12 year old child who died on arrival.

In an increasingly violent and insecure country, EMERGENCY staff continue their work to treat the victims of this war that seems to have no end. Between January and November 2015, 3,557 casualties were admitted to the Italian NGO hospital in Kabul, at a rate of more than ten a day, overwhelmingly civilians, of whom one in three cases were women or children.

To read more about EMERGENCY’s work in Afghanistan, click here.