The kids still being maimed by Isis booby traps
GROUP’S EVIL LEGACY RUINING YOUNG LIVES IN SYRIA
THEY were five carefree sisters playing together on their rooftop – happy to be home again after war forced their family to flee.
But hidden there was a booby trap bomb planted by Isis fanatics hellbent on maiming or killing innocent children even after their defeat.
Tens of thousands of such devices were left for families returning home to north-east Syria after years of war.
Isis put booby trap bombs and land mines in fields, on roads, under staircases, in household items like fridges or teapots – and even in kids’ toys.
The five roof bomb victims – sisters Sedar, four, Dumua, five, Butul, six, Arimas, nine, and Lamis, 13, – are among hundreds whose lives have been scarred for ever by the jihadi group’s deadly, evil legacy.
In the last six months more than 600 casualties have been treated at two hospitals run by charity Médecins Sans Frontières in the former Isis strongholds of Raqqa and Hassakeh.
About half are children, the youngest aged just one.
The world’s focus may have now shifted to the victims of chemical attacks by the forces of President Assad but these are the hidden victims of the war in Syria.
When the rooftop booby trap bomb, hidden inside a roll of wool, exploded at her house in February, little Sedar nearly bled to death.
She and her four sisters were rushed to a clinic in their home town Dhiban but nurses there had no training to treat such severe injuries.
Dad Humaid had been driving his taxi when the blast happened and rushed to the clinic as soon as he heard of the horror.
“What I saw broke my heart,” he said. “My daughter was dying but nurses there didn’t know how to deal with the situation.
“I yelled at one medic, ‘Please do something.’ He took out his jacket and put it around her leg.
“They even put the wrong blood type into one of my daughters. We used to have qualified doctors but they all fled because of the war.” In desperation at the clinic’s failings, the father bundled his girls into two cars and took them on a four-hour journey to the charity’s hospital in Hassakeh.
Medics there had to amputate both of Sedar’s legs to save her and Lamis lost one of her legs. The other girls were treated for shrapnel wounds.
Humaid, 45, said: “Look at Sedar, with no legs below the knees. She is confused because she still feels pain in her feet sometimes. She cries.
“Doctors here are helping her and my other four daughters very well. Otherwise I would have brought them to Damascus. I would go beyond the impossible for them.”
He added: “The girls had never seen a mine before. How could a child know about a mine? Isis put the mines in the fridge, in the door handle, under the carpet, inside the Koran.
“The hospital is full of people who have had legs amputated.”
He begged: “Please do something to remove the mines. We need to save our children.”
Médecins Sans Frontières is calling for urgent international help in the
region. Italian paediatrician Roberta Petrucci, 42, spent a month working at the hospital in Hassakeh and helped to treat Sedar and her sisters.
She said: “The world needs to know what is happening here. Mine victims, if they even survive, will have to live with their disabilities for ever.
“Imagine what it is like for young girls such as Sedar and Lamis who have lost legs.
“Lamis is old enough to realise how tough her life will be from now on. It was a long time after the explosion before she smiled again.
“We must not forget these children. The war might have subsided in this part of Syria but they need our help now more than ever.” To make a donation to support the work in Syria visit www.msf. me/DonateSyria.