The 5,000 IED 'Events' Of Britain's Afghan Campaign

The MoD has released a one-off report detailing the injuries suffered by UK troops during Op Herrick in Helmand.

 

This is the first time the MoD has released detailed figures on IED events and their aftermath over the course of Op Herrick in Helmand. It is in response to a high number of freedom of information requests since the end of the campaign.

 

The report says there were 5,313 IED events involving UK personnel between the 1st April 2009 when accurate data recording began, until the end of Op Herrick on the 30th November 2014.

 

An IED event includes a find, an explosion even if the IED missed its target, a strike where it hits its target, and mine strikes.

 

It's likely a number of incidents were not reported, therefore the figures should be treated as a minimum.

 

The highest number of IED events were recorded during the financial year 2009 to 10, which coincided with Operation Panther's Claw, a British offensive involving 3,000 troops. The highest spike of the campaign was between January and March 2010, with 592 separate IED events recorded. 

 

The report also revealed more detailed information about the injuries suffered by UK troops throughout the whole of Op Herrick, from April 2006 to November 2014.

 

7,601 UK Service personnel were admitted to the field hospital at Camp Bastion during that time, of which 4,220 were the result of injuries and the rest were down to natural causes. Approximately half were battle injuries and half were non-battle injuries.

 

A total of 1,982 British troops suffered traumatic injury, sustaining a total of 10,371 separate injuries, and around half the injuries they suffered were to the extremities, with the largest number affecting the knee and lower leg. Injuries to the head and neck accounted for just under a fifth of the injuries sustained.

 

58% sustained four or less injuries while 21% sustained one injury.

 

Open wounds, fractures, shrapnel wounds were the most common type of injury, regardless of the body region affected.

 

Explosions were the leading mechanism of wounding for battle injury, closely followed by small arms fire, including gunshot wounds and grenades.

 

There were a small number of personnel injured by explosions and small arms fire that were non-battle injuries, such as negligent discharge. Non battle injuries comprised a range of mechanism of injury including climatic injuries, transport accidents and slips, trips and falls.

 

Admission to hospital for Royal Marines and Army were significantly higher than that for the Royal Navy and RAF because a larger number of personnel deployed as front line combat troops. The Army rate was lower than Royal Marines because they deployed personnel not only in front line combat roles but also in combat support roles which were at a lower risk of battle injuries.

 

From 2013 onwards, the number of IED events and injuries fell dramatically, reflecting the reduced patrolling pattern as security was handed over to the Afghan National Security Forces.