Yesterday, August 29th 2016, an ISIS militant drove a vehicle filled with explosives into a group of recruits at an army training centre in Aden, Yemen, and detonated the explosives, killing 71.
The blast also caused a roof to collapse, burying recruits beneath it.
The bomber entered the compound behind a truck that had arrived with breakfast for the conscripts. It has been reported that security at the centre is quite lax.
The attack was claimed on an ISIS propaganda outlet.
Groups such as ISIS and AQAP have taken advantage of the instability in the region to make gains of their own.
The attack in Aden adds to the deadly violence in Yemen, caused predominantly by Saudi-coalition airstrikes, followed by Houthi violence.
The Saudi-coalition in the first half of 2016 alone (Jan-June), already caused over 800 civilian deaths and injuries, in over 40 attacks. In the same time frame explosive violence by Houthi rebels accounted for 140 civilian deaths and injuries. ISIS have been responsible for 423 deaths and injuries caused by explosive violence, of which 57 were civilians.
Last year, Yemen was the second worst affected country from explosive violence. AOAV’s Explosive Violence Monitor recorded 6,286 civilian deaths and injuries in 2015. The only country worse affected was Syria.
AOAV found that of the incidents recorded in 2015, 17 incidents of explosive violence were perpetrated by ISIS. These 17 incidents were all perpetrated by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and killed and injured 757 civilians. Of these IED attacks, at least six were suicide bombs, which were responsible for 71% of all civilian deaths and injuries from ISIS IED attacks in Yemen.
The Saudi-led coalition alone was responsible for 3,958 civilian deaths and injuries last year – 63% of all civilian deaths and injuries in Yemen in 2015 from explosive violence.
However, it remains evident that IEDs, especially suicide bombings, are extremely lethal and are seeing wider and wider use. AOAV’s Explosive Violence Monitor 2015 found that of all IED attacks, the ones that posed the most danger were suicide attacks.
AOAV condemns the use of violence against civilians and calls upon all groups to reject the deliberate targeting of civilians. States must urgently address the threat of suicide bombings and other forms of IED attacks. Reports by AOAV show the increasing use and harm of suicide bombings around the world. It is a growing reality that highlights the need for urgent preventative measures that States should establish – such as stockpile controls – to limit groups’ ability to produce these and other IEDs.
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