UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has strongly condemned the suicide attack in Afghanistan's Jalalabad that killed 19 people, mostly Sikhs and Hindus, asserting that any attack targeting civilians is "unjustifiable" and in clear violation of international law.
Mr Guterres expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and urged all parties to uphold their obligation to protect civilians, including minority communities.
"The majority of victims belong to Afghanistan's small Sikh and Hindu community. The Secretary-General extends his deepest condolences to the families of the victims and wishes a speedy recovery to those injured," the UN chief said in a statement issued by his spokesperson.
An ISIS suicide bomber targeted a convoy of Sikhs and Hindus on their way to meet the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Sunday.
Avtar Singh Khalsa, a longtime leader of the Sikh community who had planned to run in the parliamentary elections set for October, was also killed in the attack.
The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constituted one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.
The 15-nation council also reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.
"The architects of this appalling crime must be brought to justice," said Ingrid Hayden, the Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan.
Elsewhere in Nangarhar, in Afghanistan's Khogyani district, three civilian night watchmen were killed, at least two of them beheaded, and a school torched on Saturday in the latest instance of an ISIS in Khorasan Province (ISKP) campaign against schools and educational workers.
Today, one of several missiles fired into Jalalabad hit the Najmuljihad high school with other projectiles landing nearby. There were no reports of casualties.
UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan is also concerned by recent incidents impacting health facilities.
Last month a mortar hit the Andar district hospital in Ghazni province killing a doctor and a vaccination worker.
Yesterday, in the northern province of Faryab, three civilians, including a woman and child, were killed and several other civilians, mainly women and children, were injured in an Afghan National Army helicopter attack in the Pashtun Kot district.
The attack allegedly targeted Taliban terrorists at a health clinic where civilian patients were also receiving treatment.
The United Nations stresses that all parties to the conflict must at all times uphold their obligations to protect civilians and reiterates its call to immediately cease targeting civilians and civilian objects, including schools and health facilities, in compliance with the international humanitarian law.
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