Archive for the ‘Terrorism’ Category
Emergency responses to Manchester Arena attack (5/22/2017)
Wednesday, March 28th, 2018Manchester Arena bombing report: the key points
• The Greater Manchester fire and rescue service did not arrive at the scene and therefore played “no meaningful role” in the response to the attack for nearly two hours.
• A “catastrophic failure” by Vodafone seriously hampered the set-up of a casualty bureau to collate information on the missing and injured, causing significant distress to families as they searched for loved ones and overwhelming call handlers at Greater Manchester police.
• Complaints about the media include photographers who took pictures of bereaved relatives through a window as the death of their loved ones was being confirmed, and a reporter who passed biscuit tin up to a hospital ward containing a note offering £2,000 for information about the injured.
• A shortage of stretchers and first aid kits led to casualties being carried out of the Arena on advertising boards and railings.
• Armed police patrolling the building dropped off their own first aid kits as they secured the area.
• Children affected by the attack had to wait eight months for mental health support.
A reporter in the Kabul bureau of The New York Times: When she hears bombs explode
Tuesday, March 27th, 2018“….[C]all my little brother…..”
“….I was a civilian, not a journalist, at the first suicide bombing I witnessed…… It was a hot July day and I took refuge from the afternoon heat in the shade of a wall.
That wall saved my life. I have no words to describe the horrible sound of that blast, a sound I had never heard before. Dust filled the air and I was lying on the ground, too shocked to move. Which was fortunate because a few minutes later came another blast — a vicious trick of terrorists to get first responders as well. Flying glass cut my nose, but I had no other injury.
Far worse was what I saw: the dead and dying, the dismembered victims and distraught survivors, the terrible screams of agony and suffering, and the howls of despair and rage. The blast killed 84 and wounded more than 400…..”
Impact of Armed Conflict on Healthcare in Afghanistan: UN Report
Tuesday, March 27th, 2018Afghanistan and the Protection of Civilians : Document
“…..In 2017, UNAMA documented 75 incidents targeting and/or impacting healthcare and healthcare workers that caused 65 civilian casualties (31 deaths and 34 injured) compared to 120 incidents in 2016 that resulted in 23 civilian casualties (10 deaths and 13 injured).
Most of the civilian casualties (26 deaths and 22 injured) in 2017 occurred in the context of a complex attack by Anti-Government Elements on the Mohammad Sardar Daud Khan Hospital in Kabul city on 8 March.
Threats, intimidation, harassment and abduction of medical personnel comprised the majority of incidents in 2017.
UNAMA recorded the targeted killing or attempted targeted killing of five healthcare professionals (three deaths and two injured) by Anti-Government Elements in 2017. In one case, on 10 October, in Tera Zayi district, Khost province, Anti-Government Elements stopped a healthcare professional from a mobile team while he was riding a motorcycle, opened fire and killed him.
Throughout 2017, Anti-Government Elements abducted 22 healthcare workers in 11 incidents, killing one of them. The other healthcare workers were released unharmed, mostly without ransom, often following the intervention of local elders. In 2017, Anti-Government Elements continued to target ambulances – UNAMA recorded five such attacks, all during the first half of the year. For example, on 26 April, in Bagram district, Parwan province, Anti-Government Elements detonated a remote-controlled IED against an ambulance driving to the site of a murder, injuring five civilians, including a forensic doctor, two investigators, and two child bystanders.
UNAMA also recorded five incidents of intentional damage to medical facilities by AntiGovernment Elements, including one case in Badghis province, on 20 September, where AntiGovernment Elements fired rocket-propelled grenades at a clinic under construction, which resulted in its destruction and caused three civilian casualties (one death and two injured) in a nearby private house.
UNAMA documented the temporary closure of at least 147 health facilities in 2017, following threats issued by Anti-Government Elements, compared to 20 such closures in 2016. These closures ranged from several hours, with partial continuation of services, to several months of complete interruption of services, and negatively affected access to healthcare for numerous people in these areas…..”
Medical security plan set during Egyptian presidential elections (3/26-28)
Monday, March 26th, 2018“…..Ministry of Health and Population declared that as a part of the comprehensive medical plan, 2887 equipped ambulances will be distributed across polling stations, centers for the final announcement of election results, as well as along main roads in each governorate …….the Egyptian Ambulance Authority has coordinated with the Critical and Emergency Care Department to provide emergency doctors for each ambulance. ….. three fully- equipped medical convoys, with different medical specialties, will be stationed in each governorate during the election. Enough emergency blood supplies and medicine for six months will be provided to all hospitals during the election…..”
Kabul, Afghanistan: A suicide bomber detonated himself in front of the Ali Abad Hospital, killing 29 and wounding 52
Wednesday, March 21st, 2018“……At the Ali Abad Hospital, there were angry, emotional scenes as families tried to recover the bodies of loved ones, many of them mangled and dismembered.….”
WHO renews its call for the protection of health workers and for immediate access to besieged populations.
Thursday, March 15th, 2018Seven years of Syria’s health tragedy
14 March 2018 | Geneva – After seven years of conflict in Syria, WHO has renewed its call for the protection of health workers and for immediate access to besieged populations.
Attacks on the health sector have continued at an alarming level in the past year. The 67 verified attacks on health facilities, workers, and infrastructure recorded during the first two months of 2018 amount to more than 50% of verified attacks in all of 2017.
“This health tragedy must come to an end,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Every attack shatters communities and ripples through health systems, damaging infrastructure and reducing access to health for vulnerable people. WHO calls on all parties to the conflict in Syria to immediately halt attacks on health workers, their means of transport and equipment, hospitals and other medical facilities.”
Health systems are being attacked in the very places where they are needed most. An estimated 2.9 million Syrians live in UN-declared hard-to-reach and besieged locations. WHO is providing health assistance to many of these areas but lacks consistent access.
In East Ghouta, nearly 400,000 people have lived under siege for half a decade. Basic health supplies have all but run out, and there are now more than 1,000 people in need of immediate medical evacuation.
“It is unacceptable that children, women, and men are dying from injuries and illnesses that are easily treatable and preventable,” said Dr Tedros.
Critical medical supplies are also routinely removed from inter-agency convoys to hard-to-reach and besieged locations. Earlier this month, more than 70% of the health supplies intended to reach East Ghouta were removed by authorities and sent back to the WHO warehouse. The items removed are desperately needed to save lives and reduce suffering.
Seven years of conflict have devastated Syria’s healthcare system. More than half of the country’s public hospitals and healthcare centres are closed or only partially functioning and more than 11.3 million people need health assistance, including 3 million living with injuries and disabilities.
WHO is committed to ensuring that people across Syria have access to essential, life-saving healthcare. Last year, WHO delivered over 14 million treatments across the country, including through cross-border and cross-line services.
“The suffering of the people of Syria must stop. We urge all parties to the conflict to end attacks on health, to provide access to all those in Syria who need health assistance, and, above all, to end this devastating conflict,” said Dr Tedros.
3/11/2004: 191 people are killed and nearly 2,000 are injured when 10 bombs explode on four trains in three Madrid-area train stations during a busy morning rush hour.
Sunday, March 11th, 2018With the demise of the Islamic State, a revived al-Qaeda and its affiliates should now be considered the world’s top terrorist threat.
Thursday, March 8th, 2018“…..Although ISIS…has commanded the world’s attention since then, al-Qaeda has been quietly rebuilding and fortifying its various branches. Al-Qaeda has systematically implemented an ambitious strategy designed to protect its remaining senior leadership and discreetly consolidate its influence wherever the movement has a significant presence. Accordingly, its leaders have been dispersed to Syria, Iran, Turkey, Libya, and Yemen, with only a hard-core remnant of top commanders still in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Advances in commercial digital communication tools, alongside successive public revelations of U.S. and allied intelligence services’ eavesdropping capabilities, have enabled al-Qaeda’s leaders and commanders to maintain contact via secure end-to-end encryption technology.….”
