Syria's forgotten exposives killed a dozen children in March: report

Leftover explosives of Syria's war killed nearly 30 civilians, including a dozen children, last month, a war monitoring group said Wednesday.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 29 civilians, including 12 children, died from "explosive remnants" in March and that another 29 were wounded.

The latest toll brings to 73 the total number of people killed by leftover explosives since the start of the year, according to the monitor, which says it relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria.

Explosives left by all sides in fields, along roads or even in buildings in Syria's decade-long conflict have wounded thousands of civilians and killed hundreds of others.

The Syrian regime and Russia are responsible for the vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of civilians killed in bombing and shelling.

Across Syria, one in three communities are thought to be contaminated by explosive ordnance, says the United Nations.

In 2020, Syria overtook Afghanistan as the country with the highest number of recorded casualties from landmines and explosive remnants of war, with 2,729 people killed or wounded, according to the Landmine Monitor.

In 2021, 241 civilians were killed and 128 wounded by explosive remnants across Syria, said the Observatory.

Syria's war is estimated to have killed around half a million people and displaced millions since it began with a brutal regime crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2011.

An armed uprising saw opposition towns and cities subject to ferocious regime bombing and shelling.

#Landmines & explosive remnants of war kill or injure civilians every day. Like Naseem, a 7-year-old girl who lost both feet & who now lives in a camp in Idlib, #Syria

We need to do more to rid the world of landmines & to protect civilians from weapons of war#MineAwarenessDay pic.twitter.com/1crgeP8bth

— Mark Cutts (@MarkCutts) April 4, 2022