国际英语新闻:Afghan monthly casualties increase in June

KABUL, July 1 (Xinhua) -- The monthly casualties of Afghan war and conflicts have risen in June as the Taliban insurgents intensified attacks and the NATO-led forces are withdrawing from the war-torn country.

The Taliban-led attacks and conflicts claimed more than 290 lives while leaving over 300 others injured in the month, compared with nearly 200 and 250 for May, respectively.

More than 50 major bomb attacks took place last month elsewhere in the country, including 11 suicide attacks, involving 18 suicide bombers, according to official data.

On June 14, during the one-day presidential runoff election, the militants conducted more than 500 attacks, including roadside bombings, killing over 50 civilians and 30 security forces and injuring scores. Over 150 militants were also killed on the day.

On June 24, two rockets fired on Kabul airport with one rocket landing on a residential area near the airport, wounding five people, including one woman who remained in critical conditions.

On June 21, the Taliban insurgents carried out a massive attack on several districts of southern Helmand province, sparking clashes that continue until June 30.

Nearly 40 civilians and 30 army soldiers and police died during the fierce clashes which took place between the security forces and militants in Helmand's restive northern Sangin, Naw Zad, Kajaki and Marja districts. According to locals, sporadic clashes still continue there as of Tuesday July 1.

More than 4,000 militants were involved in the attacks and several hundreds of militants, including foreign fighters were also killed in the battles, according to officials.

Ten civilians were killed and 50 others wounded when two suicide car bombings targeted presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah's four-vehicle convoy in western Kabul on June 6. Abdullah, who left an election political campaign, escaped the attack unhurt.

On June 21, a suicide bomber targeted the vehicle of Masoom Stanikzai, secretariat chief for the government-backed High Peace Council, on Saturday in Kabul, killing the suicide bomber and a passerby and injuring three others but Stanikzai narrowly escaped.

At least five targeted killings occurred in a number of provinces last month, claiming the lives of several government officials, security forces and local leaders.

Local analysts feared that the Taliban would continue their attacks across the country as the Afghan army and police took the lead in combat operations.

More than 51,000 NATO-led coalition troops, down from the peak of 130, 000 in 2010, are stationed in Afghanistan, and the United States plans to trim its forces to less than 10,000 next year.

Most of the foreign forces are due to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of the year.

The exact number of casualties on the Afghan army and police last month remained unknown.

Twelve U.S. soldiers of the coalition lost their lives last month. Five U.S. soldiers were killed in a friendly-fire incident in southern Zabul province on June 9.

On June 20, three U.S. soldiers and a military dog were killed following a roadside bombing in southern Helmand province.

About 45 NATO soldiers have been killed in the country since January 1.

More than 2,900 civilians were killed and nearly 5,700 wounded in conflicts and Taliban-led attacks in the war-torn country last year, according to official figures.