13-year-old boy killed when mine exploded in Tabqa

Thirteen-year-old Laith Mudhi was killed and his ten-year-old sister seriously injured in the explosion of a mine abandoned by the Islamic State in Tabqa, northern Syria. Laith hadn’t recognized the booby trap in the garden and played with it. The mine exploded in his hands, killing him instantly. His seriously injured sister is in the hospital.

Booby traps and other unexploded devices continue to pose a major threat to the civilian population of Northern and Eastern Syria and especially in Deir ez-Zor. Before the liberation by the SDF, the Islamic State had equipped its last strongholds in the region with countless mines and booby traps which remained unexploded.