A/HRC/22/37 casualties caused by their tactics and those of other AGEs. Halting the use of victimactivated pressure-plate IEDs and suicide bombings, given their indiscriminate and disproportionate impact on civilians, would be a credible demonstration of the intent to reduce civilian casualties.4 18. AGEs continued to target civilians and indiscriminately launch attacks in civilian locations, such as mosques, city centres, public roads and civilian Government locations. In the first 11 months of 2012, UNAMA/OHCHR documented seven incidents of attacks targeting civilians in places of worship. In some instances, imams were deliberately targeted, including for performing funeral prayers for members of ANSF. 19. During Eid al-Adha prayers on 26 October, a 15-year-old suicide attacker wearing an Afghan National Army uniform detonated at the entrance to a mosque in Maimana, killing 40 civilians, including 6 children, and injuring 59 people, including 4 children. The attack was reportedly aimed at the Faryab Provincial Governor and high-ranking security officials. On 3 August, the Imam of Dawlat Zai village of Nangarhar province was killed in an IED attack, following threats previously received for performing funeral prayers for a private security guard who had been killed by the Taliban. On 14 August, three body-borne IEDs simultaneously targeted Afghan National Police vehicles at different civilianpopulated points in Zaranj city of Nimruz province, which resulted in at least 30 civilian deaths and 130 others injured. On 4 September, in Nangarhar province, Dur Baba district, a suicide attacker detonated his suicide vest at a funeral ceremony, targeting the district governor. As a result of the attack, 19 civilians were killed and 71 others were wounded. On 23 November, a vehicle-borne IED in Meydan Shahr, Wardag province, killed at least 3 civilians and injured 101 others, including 16 women, 6 children and around 24 prisoners of the Provincial Prison. 20. On 8 July, 14 civilians were killed in two IED explosions in Arghasan district of Kandahar province. On 19 October, 18 women were killed in Dawlatabad district in Balkh province when a civilian bus they were travelling in drove over a pressure-plate IED planted on a busy public road. Victim-activated pressure plate IEDs function like massive indiscriminate anti-personnel land mines and are prohibited weapons under international law. A similar pressure-plate IED detonated against a minibus in Balkh province on 19 October, killing 15 civilians and injuring 19 of the passengers. 21. As many of these incidents show, AGEs increasingly targeted civilians, including Government officials, in clear of violation of international humanitarian law. Such tactics were the second leading cause of deaths and injuries of civilians perceived by AGEs to be supporting the Government or international military forces. Between 1 January and 30 November 2012, targeted killings and attempted killings carried out by AGEs killed 641 and injured 359 civilians, more than double the casualties documented in the same period in 2011. On 13 July, the head of the Department of Women’s Affairs in Laghman province, Hanifa Safi, was killed by a remote-controlled explosive device and members of her family injured. On 10 December, the acting head of the Department of Women’s Affairs of Laghman province was killed, making her the second female head of this department in Laghman to be killed in five months. These women were targeted specifically for their high profile advocacy on women’s rights, violence against women and human rights. 4 In a statement on 24 October, on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, Taliban leader Mullah Omar emphasized the imperative of protecting non-combatants. 7