OVER nine in 10 casualties of explosive violence in populated areas are civilians, a damning report revealed today.

Over 230,000 were killed or injured by explosive weapons in the last eight years — a figure which has increased more rapidly over time in areas such as Afghanistan and Yemen, according to the Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).

The data finds that, between 2011 and 2018, 91 per cent of those reported as being harmed by explosive violence in populated areas were civilians.

An average of 79 civilians were killed or injured each day in that time period, AOAV said, while 119 countries and territories recorded at least one death or injury from explosive violence.

The 20 worst impacted countries account for 96 per cent of the civilian casualties. Syria and Iraq together account for over half of the total.

A statement from AOAV said: “What is undeniably clear is that it is civilians that have consistently borne the harm from the use of explosive weapons.

“The reverberating impact of such explosive violence means that these incidents will continue to devastate civilian populations for decades.”

Over half of civilian casualties were caused by improvised explosive devices but numbers from air raids have risen significantly over the course of the last eight years. This peaked in 2017 when they caused more civilian causalities than any other weapon.

Civilian casualties from state use of explosive weapons have been on the rise as more and more states engage in conflict.

Stop the War’s Chris Nineham told the Star that the data “puts the lie to the idea that Western wars have made the world a safer place.

“The incidents by explosions are rising. Not only that, but the proportion of civilian deaths is growing.

“It shows the disastrous impact of the West’s increasingly aggressive foreign policy. It is one more argument against current plans, in particular the madness of the prospect of war in Iran.
 
“In the years in which [US President] Donald Trump has been escalating tensions globally, Britain has increased its military deployments in the Middle East and around the world.”

Mr Nineham said that an urgent “180 degree change in direction” is needed in British foreign policy to prevent more civilian deaths.