Alwaght - Regarding explosive violence casualties, Iraq is the worst place to be a civilian, a report released on 22 Jun by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) says. "Over ten thousand civilian casualties from explosive weapons [rockets, mortars and car bombs, etc.] were recorded in Iraq for the second year in a row, as ISIS took towns and cities across the country," report reads.
Syria, Gaza, Nigeria and Pakistan along with Iraq are among top five dangerous states for civilians to live due to high human toll from explosive weapons.
AOAV report investigating number of civilians killed or injured by explosive weapons, shows that global civilian deaths and injuries have gone up for a third consecutive year. Almost 42000 people were killed, 78% civilians (32,662), report says adding that in populated areas civilians made up 92% of casualties that reflects a 52% rise from the numbers hurt or killed in 2011.
Commenting in findings, Iain Overton Director of Investigations at AOAV said “With civilians bearing the brunt of explosive weapon harm in Gaza, Ukraine, Nigeria, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan the question has to be: ‘How many more will have to die before states agree to end the use of explosive weapons in populated areas?”
Calling for collective action as the only way to reverse the trends of recent years said "It is not just governments causing this harm… Last year the biggest single bombing we recorded was a massive IED attack at a mosque in northern Nigeria. IEDs are not just a problem of the battlefields of Iraq or Afghanistan. These weapons are killing and injuring civilians the world over".
The lead researcher on the project, Robert Perkins, said: “State use of heavy explosive weapons shot up last year. More governments are using more bombs, and all too often they are trying to take out targets within populated areas. Our data has shown year after year that this practice kills and injures civilians far too often for it to be chalked up as unavoidable, isolated mistakes.”
Looking at the list of most affected countries and territories in 2014 you will find out that 3 territories, namely Iraq, Syria and Gaza, of the top five are members of Resistance Axis, consisting of Iran, Syria, Iraq, Gaza; while seven out of the the top 10 are in the West Asia, with Ukraine, Nigeria and India the only counties situated elsewhere.
From another perspective, 8 states from top ten are Muslim countries. Experts familiar with the west Asia development believe that, regional and international powers, particularly Israeli regime and its allies, have sown the seeds of terrorism in many Muslim-majority countries as part of a scheme to divert their attention away from Palestine and fix it on their own internal troubles. Tel Aviv has created, funded, and armed extremist groups as a diversionary tactic.
