On Saturday, November 4th 2017, an ISIS car bomb was detonated in the suburbs of Deir Ezzor, Syria, killing at least 100 and wounding more than 140.
The attack took place on a busy route for transport of food supplies and also for those fleeing ISIS territories. Many of those killed were said to be those displaced by recent fighting.
Some Syrian Democratic Forces were also killed in the attack that took place just days after the eastern city was recaptured. ISIS now control about 40% of Deir Ezzor province.
AOAV records casualties (i.e. people killed and injured) from explosive violence around the world as reported in English-language news sources. The data cannot capture the full scale of civilian suffering in Syria, but is indicative of the patterns of harm that exist when explosive weapons are used in populated areas.
Last year, AOAV recorded 15,640 deaths and injuries in Syria from explosive violence and of these 85% (13,313) were civilians. When explosive violence was used in a populated area in Syria 97% of the casualties were civilian.
Whilst the majority of civilian deaths and injuries from explosive violence in Syria were caused by state explosive weapons (56% or 7,500 civilians), non-state actors were responsible for at least 41% (5,493) – for remainder the perpetrator status was unclear.
IEDs made up 14% of all civilian deaths and injuries from explosive violence in Syria in 2016.
Despite this, last year saw an increase in the number of deaths and injuries caused by IEDs, compared to the previous year, with a 50% increase in IED casualties, or a 760% rise from 2011.
Fortunately, there has been a decrease in IED violence so far this year, and it is hoped that despite this most recent attack this will continue. Despite the decrease, in the first nine months of 2017, AOAV still recorded 1,247 civilian deaths and injuries from IEDs in Syria.
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 IEDs. The international community should, more than ever, seek to address IED use and seek to implement effective preventative measures to decrease their harm.
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