On Saturday, June 23rd 2018, an explosive thought to be targeting Zimbabwe’s President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, at a campaign rally in Bulawayo’s White City Stadium, has left two dead and 49 injured.
Amongst the injured are eight senior officials, including two of the President’s deputies. Some of the injured are reported to have suffered life-threatening injuries.
The names of the dead have not yet been released, though one is reported to work for Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga.
It is thought that the explosion was likely caused by a grenade.
Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) monitors the use of explosive violence around the globe. Since 2010, when the monitor began, AOAV has not recorded an incident of this kind in Zimbabwe. The only incidents where explosive weapons have caused casualties in Zimbabwe in this period have been due to accidental explosions and explosive remnants of war (ERW).
AOAV condemns the use of violence against civilians and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. AOAV encourages all armed actors to stop using explosive weapons with wide-area affects where there is likely to be a high concentration of civilians.
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