Militants kill 4 civilians on spying charges in S. Afghanistan

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LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Taliban militants killed four civilians for allegedly spying for the government in southern Afghan province of Helmand, a spokesman for provincial government said on Tuesday.

"Four innocent civilians were beheaded by militants in Washer district on Sunday night," Daud Ahmadi told Xinhua.

He said the victims had no connection with the government or foreign forces in Helmand.

The only reason for killing the four innocent civilians by militants was holding satellite phones, Ahmadi said, adding " Since the Washer district is a far-flanged area in Helmand province people mostly use satellite phone for making national and international calls and that it could not be a motive to kill innocent people for spying charges,"

The number of civilian casualties has been soaring in the militancy-plagued Afghanistan as a total of 3,021 Afghan civilians have been killed in 2011 which indicates, an 8-percent rise in non- combatants' deaths compared with 2010, according to the United Nations annual report released in Kabul in February this year.

The UN report attributed 77 percent of the civilian deaths last year to the attacks of Taliban insurgents and other armed groups opposing the Afghan government.

Another 14 percent of the deaths were attributed to Afghan and NATO-led forces and 9 percent were unattributed.

Posted in: Afghanistan, Helmand, Helmand Province, Lashkar Gah, Taliban