Feature: Afghan civilians often bear brunt of terror attacks

KABUL (Xinhua) - Ordinary Afghans, most of them unaware of political developments, often bear the brunt of terrorist attacks that have almost become routine in the strife- torn country.

Farid, a nine-year-old Grade 3 pupil, lost his father when Khair Mohammad, 35, was killed in a suicide bomb attack in Kabul last Tuesday.

According to Farid, who like some Afghans go with only one name, his father, a street sweeper, left their house early that morning to report for work but he never returned home.

"When he was alive, my father always told me to go to school and study. Now that he is gone, who would support us?" Farid asked.

Aside from Mohammad, two other civilians suffered injuries from the blast.

Mohammad was the lone breadwinner for a family of 11. He has nine children and his father lives with them.

"I don't know how to cope with what happened, how to feed my children or send them to school," Mohammad's wife said.

Mohammad's father, who is too old to work, said he did not know what to do with his son's family.

A footage of the family of Mohammad, broadcast on Tolo television Thursday, showed his wife and children were living in a shanty house. The barefooted children were wearing tattered clothes.

His youngest child, only eight months old, is unaware of what had happened to the family.

Farid is not alone in feeling the pain of war and militancy in Afghanistan.

Also on Tuesday, a suicide bomb attack against a police station in Logar's provincial capital of Pul-e-Alam, 60 km south of Kabul, killed 23 people, including eight civilians and four assailants, and injured eight others.

Taliban militants, who are fighting the government, have claimed responsibility for both attacks.   On its website, the Taliban said a group of suicide bombers stormed the dining hall of the police station at lunchtime and inflicted heavy casualties.

Poor and underprivileged Afghans are mostly the victims of terrorist attacks in the war-torn country.

The victims of the suicide attack in Pul-e-Alam, according to locals, were low-level police officers. These policemen have left their families, including young children, to fend for themselves.

Senior government and security officials usually wear bullet- proof vests. It is the poor and harmless civilians who are killed in these attacks.

Civilian casualties have been on the rise in the conflict- ridden country. A report released by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Wednesday showed a 22-percent increase in civilian casualties last year.

According to the report, the 10,548 civilian casualties in 2014 include 3,699 dead and 6,849 injuries. It attributed 72 percent of all civilian casualties to attacks by the Taliban and other anti- government elements.