[JURIST] At least 20 people were reported to have been killed and 41 injured on Tuesday following a terrorist attack [Al Jazeera report] at the Supreme Court in Kabul, Afghanistan. It is believed that the perpetrator wore a suicide vest and targeted people who were exiting the courthouse. The Taliban is suspected, as they have attacked Afghan courthouses in the past. This attack comes after a recent UN report that civilian casualties [JURIST report] in Afghanistan have reached record highs.

Civilian casualties continue to be a primary issue in the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. In February of last year UN reported [JURIST report] that civilian casualties in Afghanistan had reached a record high 11,000 in 2015. Last June, three Taliban gunmen attacked [JURIST report] a court building in eastern Afghanistan, killing seven people including a newly appointed chief prosecutor. In November 2015 the US Department of Defense and Pentagon officials completed their investigation [JURIST report] into the October 3 bombing of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, and announced [statement] that it was an “avoidable accident caused primarily by human error.”