prosecuted by the Afghan National Police, convicted of murder and sentenced to six years‘ imprisonment. According to UNAMA, more than a dozen civilians were shot at checkpoints. In one such incident on 16 March, Afghan Local Police at a checkpoint in Jawzjan province shot and injured a man and his mother after mistaking them for insurgents. In April, Afghan National Police shot a 65-year-old man returning from feeding his cows; he later died in hospital. In May, an Afghan National Army soldier shot dead a 13-year-old boy as he collected grass close to a checkpoint in Badghis province. In June, according to UNAMA, three young children in Saydebad district were killed in their home by a mortar round fired by the Afghan National Army. The same month, progovernment forces on patrol shot dead a father and his two young sons (aged five and 12) outside the brick factory where they worked; there was no known military activity in the area at the time. UNAMA requested updates on any investigation or follow-up action on these cases, but by July had received no information from the Ministry of the Interior. During the first six months of the year, according to UNAMA, 95 civilians, half of them children, were killed in air strikes. ABUSES BY ARMED GROUPS In January, in Badakhshan province, five armed men dragged a pregnant woman from her home and shot her dead in front of her husband and six children; witnesses said her attackers accused her of being a government supporter. On 8 March, armed men entered an Afghan National Army military hospital in central Kabul and killed at least 49 people, including patients. In August, armed groups attacked the village of Mirza Olang, in Sar-ePul province, killing at least 36 people, including civilians. Suicide attacks by armed groups in civilian areas caused at least 382 deaths and 1,202 injuries. In one such attack in December, at least 41 people, including children, were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a Shi’a cultural organization in Kabul. Amnesty International Report 2017/18 On 25 August, a Shi’a mosque in Kabul was attacked by IS, killing at least 28 people and injuring dozens more. On 20 October, similar attacks were carried out against two more Shi’a mosques – one in western Kabul and the other in Ghor province – leaving more than 60 people dead and dozens injured. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS The Ministry of Women’s Affairs of Afghanistan (MoWA) reported an increase in cases of gender-based violence against women, especially in areas under Taliban control. In the first half of the year, the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission reported thousands of cases of violence against women and girls across the country, including beatings, killings and acid attacks. Against the backdrop of impunity for such crimes and a failure to investigate, cases of violence against women remained grossly under-reported due to traditional practices, stigmatization and fear of the consequences for the victims. Armed groups perpetrated gender-based violence, torture and other ill-treatment and other human rights abuses, imposing corporal punishments on women for having sex outside of marriage or engaging in sex work. In one instance, according to UNAMA, men severely beat a woman in her home in Darah-i-Suf Payin district, Samangan province, after accusing her of having sex outside of marriage and engaging in sex work. UNAMA also noted that armed groups tried to restrict girls’ access to education. In February, threats forced the closure of girls’ schools in several villages in Farah province, temporarily denying education to more than 3,500 girls. When the schools reopened 10 days later, the vast majority of the girls were initially afraid to return. The head of the women’s affairs department in Badakhshan reported that in March the Taliban stoned a woman to death and whipped a man on charges of having sex outside of marriage in Wardoj district, northeastern Badakhshan province. 67