Richard Norton-Taylor - Number of civilians killed or injured by explosives rises 50% in five years
More than 33,000 civilians were killed or injured by
explosive weapons in 2015, an increase of more than 50% in five years,
according to a wide-ranging survey passed to the Guardian. In the last year alone, the number of civilian deaths
caused by such weapons increased by as much as 7,682% in
Turkey, and 1,204% in
Yemen.
There were also significant increases in Egypt (142%), Libya (85%), Syria (39%) and
Nigeria(22%). The number of civilians killed or injured by suicide
attacks also rose sharply, reaching 9,205 last year, an increase of 68% on
2014, even though the number of individual attacks – 253 – was about the same.
More than half of the 16,180 civilians killed or injured by all improvised
explosive devices (IEDs), including car bombs, were victims of suicide
attacks.
Suicide bomb attacks occurred in 21 countries, the
highest figure ever recorded. They were: Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey,
Syria, Yemen, Chad, Cameroon, Pakistan, Lebanon, Kuwait, France – which
suffered its first
such attack in modern times – Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Libya, Egypt,
China, India, Bangladesh, Mali and Tunisia.
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more:
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/apr/27/civilians-killed-injured-explosives-rises-turkey-yemen