Taliban committing war crimes

[ck4829]

The Taliban and other militant groups are committing war crimes by targeting Afghan civilians, killing nearly 700 last year, according to a report issued Monday by Human Rights Watch that also pointed to dramatically escalating violence since 2005.

The death toll caused by the Islamic groups is more than three times the civilian deaths attributed to U.S. and NATO forces, which have been criticized for excessive use of force in civilian areas.

In the latest suicide attack against the Western-backed government, a bomber in the relatively stable north struck a crowd of police on Monday, killing 10 and wounding 32.

The New York-based rights group said the number of suicide attacks spiked to 136 last year from 21 the previous year as the Taliban turned to increasingly indiscriminate, Iraq-style tactics. The surge in violence made 2006 "the deadliest year for civilians in Afghanistan since 2001," the report said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070416/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan