UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The UN Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has expressed outrage at a Taliban attack in Kabul, that led to "scores" of civilian casualties on Wednesday.
In a Tweet, the Mission said that such "indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks in heavily populated civilian areas must stop."
According to media reports, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the deadly car bomb attack on a police station, in which at least 14 people are believed to have been killed, and nearly 150 injured.
Earlier on the same day, UNAMA released a statement expressing "deep concern" at threats made by the Taliban to target civilians participating in Afghanistan's presidential elections, which are due to take place on Sept. 28.
The elections were originally scheduled to take place in April, and postponed to July, only to be rescheduled for next month.
The statement declared that the electoral process is a civilian undertaking, according to international, humanitarian and human rights law, and noted that "all citizens - whether voters, candidates or election-related staff - have the right to be free from fear, intimidation and violence at all stages of an elections process."
The Mission urged the Taliban not to threaten or carry out violent attacks against civilians participating in elections, and emphasized that attacks against polling centers, and civilians participating in the electoral process, are clear violations of international law, and that those who carry out such crimes must be held accountable.
The Kabul attack, and Taliban threats of election violence, occurred just a few days after the latest round of peace talks between the Taliban and U. S. representatives, which took place in Qatar over the weekend.
