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Improvised Explosive Devices

24 May 2022

Nine Killed and 27 Injured in Confirmed IED Explosion, Kano, Nigeria

On Tuesday 17 May 2022, an took place near a school in Sabon Gari, Kano (Nigeria). The casualty count was eventually confirmed at nine fatalities and 27 people injured. Immediately following the blast, authorities claimed it was due to a gas cylinder explosion, although witnesses claimed to have seen a suicide bomber blow himself up. However, in the last few days, Nigerian police have arrested two Boko Haram suspects and confirmed that the blast was due to an IED explosion.

13 May 2022

One Killed and 13 Injured in IED Explosion in Karachi, Pakistan

On the evening of Thursday 12 May, one person was killed and 13 were injured when an IED exploded in Karachi, Pakistan. The bombing was reportedly targeting a van carrying Pakistan security forces in the city’s Saddar neighbourhood. Two members of the security forces were amongst the injured. The rest of the casualties were civilians.

27 Apr 2022

Six Killed and 28 Injured in IS-Affiliated Suicide Attacks In Taraba (Nigeria)

Two suicide attacks in Nigeria’s typically more peaceful Middle Belt state of Taraba have been claimed by ISWAP. Both attacks, one in the rural community of Iware, and the other in Jalingo, the state’s capital, seem to have been targeting drinking establishments. These latest incidents are a symptom of the spreading Islamist insurgencies that have been active in Nigeria’s northeast for over a decade, as IS-affiliated groups expand their operational areas.

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3 Mar 2022

The birth of terror: how the first ever suicide bomber emerged in Russia

Russia saw the birth of the suicide bomber, when Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. In this extract from his book The Price of Paradise, Iain Overton looks at the events leading towards and away from that explosive moment.

1 Mar 2022

UNMAS event: “Improvised Explosive Devices Threat Mitigation: Looking Back to Move Forward”

On 16 December 2021, UNMAS Geneva hosted a side event on “Improvised Explosive Devices Threat Mitigation: Looking Back to Move Forward” at the 6th Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. Below is a short video extract from the event.

7 Dec 2021

As war devastates Ukraine, AOAV examines the country’s existing landmine problem

Around 2 million people are estimated to be exposed to the threat of landmines on either side of the 450km long ‘contact line’ in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine.

16 Nov 2021

UK terror threat raised to “severe” after explosion at Liverpool hospital

In the second terror incident in the UK within one month, a taxi pulled up outside Liverpool Women's Hospital and exploded into flames.

27 Oct 2021

An examination of far-right IED attacks in the United States (2010- 2021)

Far-right attacks involving improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the US increased dramatically under President Trump’s leadership – raising questions as to whether his inflammatory rhetoric that appealed to an extremist base led to a rise in violence.

19 Oct 2021

The challenge IEDs pose for the Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) sector

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have wreaked havoc worldwide, killing and maiming thousands, and spreading fear and disruption to affected communities. Rendering IEDs safe has traditionally been the remit of military explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) personnel, rather than the humanitarian mine action (HMA) sector.

19 Oct 2021

Study shows 43% of 112 deminer deaths since 2005 not recorded in organisations’ annual reports

At least 112 deminers have been killed globally since 2005 whilst on operations, a study by Action on Armed Violence has found.

12 Sep 2021

The Devil’s Face: the suicide attacks on 9/11 remembered

This is an extract from Iain Overton's, AOAV's Executive Director, book: The Price of Paradise: how the suicide bombers shaped the modern age. It is published in memory of those killed two decades ago.

17 Aug 2021

An examination of the precursor chemicals found within IEDs

Home Made Explosive (HME) has been used in military and commercial explosive engineering applications for over a millennium, but the last 50 years have seen it metastasize in IEDs.