KABUL, Afghanistan — Attacks on Afghan schools tripled from 2017 to 2018, a Unicef report said Tuesday, as the Taliban and other extremist groups in Afghanistan continue to wage a campaign of violence against so-called softer targets, far from the battlefield. The number of attacks increased to 192 from 68, a surge not seen since 2015, according to the report by the United Nations agency for children. The number of children not attending school also increased last year for the first time since 2002. Nooria Nazhat, a spokeswoman for the ministry of education, said the government did not have any specific statistics to back up the Unicef report. But she added: “Every week we have a report about schools getting attacked in Afghanistan.”

Source: New York Times May 28, 2019 00:00 UTC