Thursday, December 30, 2010

Huge Rise in War Wounded Civilians in Afghanistan

The number of war wounded civilians in southern Afghanistan has increased dramatically this year following the military troop surge, an exclusive Channel 4 News investigation has found.

Contributed by W

"Thousands more patients are being admitted at one hospital in Kandahar alone - a threefold increase on the previous year in an area which has seen vicious fighting.

The number of children falling victim to the fighting has also risen dramatically.

In many cases civilians have lost limbs in explosions caused by improvised explosive devices or mine blasts while many others have suffered gunshot wounds or injuries caused by shelling.

Channel 4 News spoke to hospitals in the south of Afghanistan – areas where the Taliban is strongest, and where coalition forces are fighting hardest.

All of the hospitals said they were seeing major increases in war wounded civilians. One of the doctors, Matteo Dell'Aira, told Channel 4 News: "We have more war wounded than we have ever had in our six years of being here."......"

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