The death of two pregnant women in separate attacks in two Afghan provinces prompted many Afghans and human rights activists to take to social media on Monday to express their horror and anger.
In the wake of the deaths, Afghans have begun to question the success of ongoing peace efforts.
In one case, in Kandahar province, militants attacked a police officer late on Saturday while he was taking his pregnant wife to the hospital so she could be delivered of her child, an official told dpa.
The police officer was wounded and his wife arrived at the hospital already dead, but the doctors were able to save the baby by conducting a Caesarean, a hospital source said.
“Afghanistan is the only country where newborn babies are welcomed with bullets,’’ human rights activist Samira Hamidi wrote on Twitter, adding that the baby paid the cost of just being born in the wrong part of the world.
In eastern Khost province, another pregnant woman and her unborn child were killed, and four children wounded, in an explosion inside a private house in Sabari district, an official who wished not to be named told dpa.
The Taliban claims that pro-government forces lob mortars at civilian houses.
However, government officials claim the blast was due to explosives hidden by an insurgent.
“Images of women and kids targeted by international sponsored militia & (Afghan National and Defence Forces] are extremely disturbing,’’ another Afghan civil society activist Orzala Nemat claimed, calling for a full and immediate investigation of the incident.
dpa/NAN
