The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has expressed concerns about the rising number of civilian casualties from airstrikes this year in Afghanistan, specifically pointing towards with credible reports of the latest incident occurring late Saturday in Kapisa province.

UNAMA in a statement said it has received multiple, credible allegations that on 22 September, aerial ordnance impacted the home of a teacher in the Budrab area of Tagab district, Kapisa province, killing nine civilians, including four children and three women, with several others injured.

The statement further added that all the victims from the attack were from the same family, including grandparents and children aged between two and twelve. Five of the six other family members who were injured when their home was destroyed were women and young children.

According to UNAMA, the incident took place during operations conducted by Pro-Government Forces against Taliban in the area. It was not immediately clear whether the strike was carried out by international military forces or by the Afghan Air Force.

“UNAMA is in contact with both entities, as part of UNAMA’s ongoing independent verification process to establish facts around such incidents and to advocate with parties to improve mitigation measures in future operations to prevent civilian casualties,” UNAMA said.

“UNAMA reminds all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations to protect civilians from harm, and holds that all parties to the conflict must strictly adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law to take all feasible measures to protect civilians. UNAMA also calls upon parties responsible for operations resulting in civilian casualties to ensure independent, impartial, transparent and effective investigations into these incidents,” the statement by UNAMA added.