Up to ‘a dozen children a day’ injured in Mosul, Save the Children told

November 11, 2016…Front-line medics in Mosul are treating up to a dozen children a day for serious injuries, with young children mutilated by blasts, shot and severely burned, Save the Children has learned.

The medics, working on the edge of Mosul city, say an increasing number of civilians are being seriously injured by crossfire, mortars, makeshift landmines and car bombs as Iraqi and coalition forces push deeper into Mosul.

Doctors receiving critical cases at a hospital in Erbil also told Save the Children they are overwhelmed with patients and that badly injured young children are arriving separated from their parents.

“Civilians are coming to us with major trauma injuries, some with exhaustion, some caught in crossfire,” said one medic near Mosul.

“I’m seeing maybe six to a dozen children a day – more like a dozen now – coming with gunshots, burns, scrapes, shrapnel wounds.”

In one case, he said an eight-year-old boy died after he was blown apart when he and a friend triggered an improvised explosive device. The friend was partially disembowelled by the blast but survived.

Another medic said a girl around the age of nine turned up on her own with burns over her entire body.

“I was trying to keep her calm, she was in severe pain. She said that her family had been hit by the bomb and she’d watched her brother die,” he said.

“Because of our proximity we are now seeing far more civilians than soldiers, and that includes a lot of children.”

According to the World Health Organisation, the Emergency Hospital in Erbil has received a daily average of 15 – and up to 30 – injured patients suffering from gunshot wounds, shell and mine injuries since the start of the offensive on 17 October.

This includes a two-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to the chest, a three-year-old girl and her two sisters suffering from shell injuries, and an eight-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy with severe leg injuries.

Doctors at a hospital in Erbil where critical cases are being referred told Save the Children they were overwhelmed yesterday with civilian and military patients arriving from Mosul.

They said badly injured children are arriving at the hospital without their parents, who are not allowed into Erbil because of security restrictions.

Yesterday, they operated on a 10-year-old girl with a blast injury to the abdomen and pelvis, which caused internal bleeding. It had taken her four days to reach help from Mosul.

They said another girl, around the age of 11, had arrived with a serious head wound after shrapnel penetrated her skull. Doctors operated on her but were unsure if she survived, as she was referred to another hospital.

The number of people displaced since the Mosul offensive was launched three weeks ago has more than doubled in a week to more than 45,000, and now includes thousands fleeing from the suburbs of the city in recent days, such as those injured in the crossfire.

There are no official figures available on the number of civilian deaths. Save the Children has repeatedly warned that children must be given immediate safe passage out of Mosul to stop them being caught in the crossfire.

Save the Children Iraq Deputy Country Director Aram Shakaram said all caution must be taken by all parties to the conflict to protect civilians.

“It’s shocking to hear that children are suffering this range of serious injuries in such high numbers and are waiting days to receive medical treatment. All sides to this conflict must ensure children are protected from the dangers of warfare and are never caught in the crossfire,” he said.

“One child injured by a bullet or shrapnel is one too many. For children who suffer such horrific injuries, they must be evacuated and able to access lifesaving support as soon as possible, and must be allowed to have the support of a caregiver.”

ENDS