Wednesday morning, August 30, 2017, 12 civilians were killed and 27 others were injured due to explosion of two landmines planted on the administrative border of Al-Hasakeh and Deir az-Zor provinces, approximately 1 kilometer before the Abu Khashab crossing point. The landmines exploded as a group of displaced people were passing fleeing from the areas under the control of the organization that calls itself the Islamic State, also known as
Abdulkhelef Shlash, a wounded from Deir az-Zor who was injured in the incident and received treatment at al-Hasakeh private hospital in Al-Hasakeh city, talked to STJ about what happened, he said:
“At 7 a.m. on Tuesday, August 29, 2017, I fled with my family from Abu kamal in Deir az-Zor, after fierce fighting between ISIS fighters and Syrian regime forces. Moreover, we walked about 2 km until we reached the road to Abu-Khashab crossing point, which links Deir az-Zor with areas under Autonomous Administration control in al-Hasakeh. Anyway, approximately one kilometer before arriving the crossing, we were astonished when we saw the first explosion at about 2:00 am, followed by the second explosion; there were many people taking their last breath. At about 6:30 am the Asayesh forces commenced to bring ambulances to transport as much wounded as possible, but the dead were left behind given the small number of vehicles.”
In another testimony, one of the wounded, who refused to disclose his name for security purposes, said that the Asayesh forces affiliated to SDF transferred them to the Al-Hikmah Private hospital in al-Hasakeh and prevented them from leaving the hospital without their consent. He also indicated that the aid and treatment were free and the injured did not know whether the hospital or the Asayesh forces paid for the treatment.
In a related context, Ali al-Hasan, the official spokesperson of pro-Autonomous Administration Asayesh forces, announced in a statement posted on the Asayesh Facebook account that 10 persons, including women and children, were killed and more than 25 others injured as a result of explosion of two landmines on the way where they were fleeing ISIS-held territory August 30, 2017.
In turn, a STJ reporter could document names of a number of wounded of displaced civilians who were exposure to the landmines explosion and transported to al-Hasakeh private hospital in al-Hasakeh.
Image shows names of the wounded in the two landmines explosion while fleeing from ISIS control areas in Deir az-Zor to Autonomous Administration-held areas on August 30, 2017.
Photo credit: STJ
It is worth mentioning that the administrative border between Deir az-Zor and al-Hasakeh is an area full of mines planted by ISIS years ago when they controlled Jabal Abdel Aziz located west of al-Hasakeh, Al-Shadadi and Markdah in southern al-Hasakeh. Many civilians fleeing from the gross fighting died because of landmines, but there is no precise or official information about a precise number of the dead so far.