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Casualties and Victim Assistance
Casualties
In 2009, Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor identified 76 British military casualties (all killed) in Afghanistan from improvised explosive devices (IEDs); based on information available it was not possible to determine how many of the casualties were caused by victim-activated devices.[1] No casualties from landmines or explosive remnants of war (ERW) were identified.[2] This compares to 33 British military casualties (all killed) in Afghanistan from IEDs and landmines in 2008.[3] With the limited data available, it is not possible to determine incidents specifically caused by victim-activated landmines, ERW, or IEDs. Total figures on British mine, ERW, and victim-activated IED casualties abroad were not available, though given military casualty statistics, it is likely that they number in the hundreds.[4] In 2009, non-governmental sources tracking casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq criticized the Ministry of Defence for the lack of transparency and accuracy in reporting British casualties.[5]
Victim Assistance
The total number of mine/ERW survivors in the United Kingdom is unknown, but the vast majority are thought to be disabled veterans who were injured on foreign soil and who receive compensation through the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS). Other benefits to which military survivors claiming AFCS compensation may have been eligible (depending on the severity of their injuries) included income support, housing benefit, and free medical prescriptions, among others.[6]
[1] Icasualty.org, “Coalition deaths by Nationality,” updated 8 August 2010, icasualties.org. Most media reports seemed to refer to casualties from incidents involving command-detonated devices, such as roadside bombs, which are not included in Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor casualty totals.
[2] Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor media for calendar year 2009; and Icasualty.org, “Coalition deaths by Nationality,” updated 8 August 2010, icasualties.org. In addition, 157 British soldiers were seriously or very seriously injured in Afghanistan during this period, but no information was available as to the cause of these injuries. Ministry of Defence, “Afghanistan Casualty and Fatality Tables: 7 October 2001 to 31 July 2010,” updated 31 July 2010. In Iraq, one British soldier was killed and one was seriously injured; the causes of these casualties were unknown. Ministry of Defence, “Operation Telic Casualty and Fatality Tables: 1 January 2003 to 31 July 2009,” undated, www.mod.uk.
[3] There was insufficient information in the data available to determine how many, if any, of these casualties were caused by victim-activated versus command-detonated explosive devices. Another 65 British soldiers were seriously or very seriously injured in Afghanistan in 2008 though no details were available as to the cause of the injuries. Icasualty.org, “Coalition deaths by Nationality,” updated 8 August 2010, icasualties.org; and Ministry of Defence, “Afghanistan Casualty and Fatality Tables: 7 October 2001 to 31 July 2010,” updated to 31 July 2010, www.mod.uk.
[4] See previous editions of Landmine Monitor.
[5] Casualty Monitor, “Monitoring and analysis of data on civilian and military casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan,” 10 February 2009, www.casualty-monitor.org.
[6] Ministry of Defence, “Table Of Wider Benefits Potentially Available To AFCS Claimants,” undated, www.mod.uk.
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