A/HRC/19/47 greatest contributor to civilian deaths, responsible for 888 civilians killed, that is, 31 per cent of all civilian deaths. Air strikes remained the leading cause of civilian deaths by PGFs, killing 205 civilians, a 24-per cent increase compared to the same period in 2010. 10. Protection of civilians remained a crucial human rights issue, particularly with the transitioning of lead security responsibility from international forces to ANSF 2 by the end of 2014, and the beginning of the withdrawal of foreign troops. Transition areas faced attacks and a resilient insurgency attempting to challenge ANSF’s capacity to maintain security and disrupting the transition process. Many communities expressed their doubts to OHCHR/UNAMA about ANSF’s capability of keeping law and order effectively, due to the growing insecurity and continuous attacks by insurgent groups, even in guarded city centres. A. Anti-Government elements 11. AGEs remain responsible for the largest proportion of civilian deaths in the first 11 months of 2011. Civilian deaths reportedly caused by AGEs increased by seven per cent from 2010. Suicide attacks and targeted killings caused most civilian deaths, totalling 863 deaths. IED attacks continue to account for the greatest proportion of civilian casualties. AGEs also continued to kill civilians at the same high rate as the previous year, with 484 civilians targeted and executed by insurgents. Suicide attacks resulted in 379 civilian deaths, an increase of 63 per cent compared with the same period last year. 12. OHCHR/UNAMA found that AGEs increasingly employed unlawful means of warfare, particularly victim-activated pressure plate IEDs that act like anti-personnel landmines. IEDs accounted for 2,278 civilian casualties (888 deaths and 1,390 injuries), the single largest killer of civilians in 2011. The vast majority of the IEDs that killed civilians in Afghanistan were designed to be triggered by a weight of between 10 and 100 kilogrammes. Such a weight range means that anyone from an infant to a large adult can detonate the IED, so that such IEDs function effectively as massive anti-personnel mines. This tactic is in violation of the basic right to life and contravenes international humanitarian law principles. OHCHR/UNAMA has repeatedly called on the Taliban leadership to reiterate publicly its commitment to ban the use of pressure plate IEDs, which is in violation of its own 1998 ban on all types of landmines.3 13. AGEs continue to expand their campaign of intimidation, in particular, using the tactic of assassination against a broad range of civilians, from high-ranking government officials, community elders, influential local political and religious leaders, former military personnel, teachers, construction workers to those who supported or were perceived to be supportive of or associated with Government or international military forces. In the first 11 months of 2011, AGEs assassinated 484 civilians, a five per cent increase compared to same period in 2010. AGEs killed more people on the suspicion of spying than for any other apparent reason. AGEs also conducted a series of assassinations of high-profile political figures in 2011, with four high-level killings in the southern region alone in July 2011. The most prominent assassination carried out by AGEs, involved the killing of Burahuddin Rabanni, former President of Afghanistan and Chairman of the High Peace Council, in Kabul on 20 September 2011. 2 3 6 The transition process (inteqal) began on 20 July 2011, when international forces handed over the security of seven areas to ANSF. On 28 November, the Government of Afghanistan announced the second tranche of areas to be transferred from international forces to Afghan control. In 1998, the Taliban banned the use of anti-personnel landmines and issued statements condemning their use as “un-Islamic and anti-human.”