GENEVA, March 7 (Reuters) - (This March 7 story corrects name of U.S. ambassador in final paragraph to Michele Taylor, not Sheba Crocker)
Nearly 400 civilians have been killed in attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, more than 80% of them by a group affiliated to Islamic State, a U.N. report shows, underscoring the scale of the insurgency faced by the new rulers.
It is the first major human rights report since the Taliban seized power from the former U.S.-backed government in August, triggering concerns in the West about a broader rollback of rights for women, journalists and others.
It covers the period from August 2021 to the end of February and said that 397 civilians were killed mostly in a series of attacks by the Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) group.
More than 50 people with suspected ties to the extreme militant group had been killed in the same period, it said, with some tortured and beheaded and cast by the roadside.
"The human rights situation for many Afghans is of profound concern," said Michelle Bachelet, High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a speech introducing the report to the top rights body in Geneva.
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Photo by: Ali Khara