From 13 to 19 October 2023, AOAV has recorded 217 incidents of explosive violence around the world, and 1,619 civilian casualties.

Recent data from Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) coupled with records from Care4Calais shed light on the acute dangers that many asylum seekers coming to the UK face in their homelands.

The UK’s Special Forces have been reported on operations in almost twenty countries in just over 10 years. Here we outline why this might be concern.

Data on costs associated with Defence Loan Service Personnel to 85 countries, including human rights priority nations, reveal global cost of up to £40m in 2022.

This section outlines the extent of UKSF’s operations in Nigeria.

In December 2022, Action on Armed Violence recorded 2,682 deaths and injuries from 390 incidents of explosive violence around the world. Civilians accounted for 54% (1,444) of the deaths and injuries recorded.

In June 2022, Action on Armed Violence recorded 2,442 deaths and injuries from 399 incidents of explosive violence around the world, as reported in English-language media. Civilians accounted for 71% (1,730) of the deaths and injuries recorded.

While Europe’s media hones in on the devastating conflict in Ukraine, parallel conflicts involving state and non-state actors go under-reported and forgotten. AOAV’s data shows that, as Ukraine burns, the world is still on fire – and civilians still suffer the brunt of explosive violence everywhere.

On Sunday 5 June, gunmen with explosive devices attacked St Francis Catholic Church, in Owo, during morning mass. No figures have been officially confirmed, but doctors on the ground claim at least 50 people, including women and children, have been killed, and some 48 injured.

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.

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.

Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) records incidents of explosive violence as they occur around the world. Since 1 October 2010 AOAV has used English-language media sources to capture information on attacks, including on the number of casualties and the weapon type used. In July 2015, AOAV recorded 4,990 casualties of explosive violence worldwide, 76% of […]