KABUL - The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemns yesterday’s killing of a family, as well as the driver of the taxi they were travelling in when the vehicle hit a pressure-plate improvised explosive device (PPIED) planted on a road in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

The family group was composed of a husband and wife, as well as two sons and a daughter aged between 4 and 12 years-old. The incident took place in the Soor Kalai area of Lal Pur district.

“The use of indiscriminate, victim-activated bombs in civilian populated areas is an outrage,” said the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA, Nicholas Haysom. “The use of indiscriminate weapons must stop immediately.”

Improvised explosive devices were the second largest cause of civilian casualties in Afghanistan during 2014, with numbers up from 2013.

UNAMA will next month release its 2014 annual report on the Protection of Civilians, including detailed reporting on civilian casualties.

Mr. Haysom emphasizes that international humanitarian law explicitly prohibits the use of weapons whose effects may not be limited and attacks which are not directed at a specific military objective.

UNAMA extends its condolences to the families of all of those killed in the explosion.