By DPA
Kabul : A United Nations report released Sunday in Kabul found that suicide attacks by radical Islamic militants in Afghanistan increased sevenfold from 2005 to 2006 and have continued to rise in 2007, though at a slower pace.
The number of suicide attacks rose from 17 in 2005 to 123 in 2006, with a further 77 attacks in the first six months of 2007.
Suicide attacks were rare in Afghanistan before 2005.
The first known suicide attack came exactly six years ago in the Hindu Kush, where Al Qaeda terrorists killed the military leader of the Northern Alliance, Ahmed Shah Massoud, on Sep 9, 2001, just two days before the attacks on the US.
The Northern Alliance was fighting the militant Taliban regime at the time. The attackers dressed as journalists set off explosives hidden in a fake television camera. Massoud is revered as a folk hero in many parts of Afghanistan.
The UN report found that there were no suicide attacks in 2002, shortly after US-led coalition forces entered the country to topple the Taliban.
There were two suicide attacks in 2003, including one in June against a German Army bus in Kabul in which four German soldiers were killed.
In 2004, there were three suicide attacks recorded, the UN report finds.
Since then, suicide attacks have become a weekly occurrence.