Every time the IEDs are mentioned, it has become akin to mentioning their child victims. Heavy responsibility rests with the warring parties, who plant these bodies of death everywhere, on the roadsides, in the farms, in the walks of animals, and then fall into the hands of children, because of its attractive shapes.
Ramah, a child in the second spring of his age, lost his life while playing inside his house in Al-Rukab area, Al-Jarrahi district, Al-Hodeidah governorate.
Going into the details, Bilal (15 years old), who is the uncle of the child Ramah, found a camouflaged package similar to a juice can, while he was grazing sheep in the village, so he carried it with him and brought it home. He thought it was a toy that he can play with, not a killing tool.
On Thursday, May 5, 2022, at seven o'clock in the morning, Bilal went out to the yard of the house with the canister in his hand. The ground was wet because of the rain that had fallen the night before.
Bilal stood next to his father's bed (60 years old), and next to them was the child Ramah playing and having fun. Bilal throw the mud off the toy which was in his hand to fall on the ground to explode, mixed with silt, blood, and parts of the child's body.
In another village in Al-Hodeidah Governorate, three siblings were killed and three were injured along with their mother as a result of death-carrying explosive objects. One family lost three of its members in a blink of an eye. When curiosity prompts a child to explore things that lead to disaster, as they have no room for passion and enjoyment of childhood on their land, which has become infested with mines and weapons remnants.
Bilal was also injured by shrapnel in his legs and penis and some shrapnel hit Ramah's father, who was lying on his bed, where he was hit in his left hand and face. Ramah only lasted for a few seconds before he passed away while Bilal was taken to a hospital for first aid, after which he was transferred to Al-Thawra Hospital in Hodeidah.
It was another war pitfall that changed the fate of a family forever, leaving them for their misery. The local citizens accuse the Ansar Allah group (Houthis) of placing such device, as it bears the pattern that they used to booby-trap places, and it is also located in the areas under their control.
The three children of Marawah
In Al Marawan area in Al Hudaydah Governorate, there were victims of death-carrying explosive objects. Three children brothers were killed, three wounded along with their mother. One family in a moment lost three of its members. The curiosity motivated children to explore things which ended in a disaster, as there was no room for them to have passion or enjoy childhood in their land, which had become infested with mines and weapons remnants.
At the moment when the eyes of the child Wael (12 years old) caught sight of the remnants of anti-aircraft ammunition lying on the side of the road, he was with his father when his curiosity and childhood passion drove him to explore this object and prompted him to carry it with him without knowing that his life and the lives of two of his brothers would come to an end with this iron strange object.
On Sunday, April 25, 2021, at 10:30 am, Wael decided to play with this life-destroying body, so he had gathered his brothers and sat next to each other to explore this iron object.
The child Wael started hitting it with a hammer in the yard of their house in the village of Al-Khalifa in Al-Maraw’ah District, Al-Hodeidah Governorate. The imagination of the children with him began to rejoice that they had found a fun toy that might make a nice sound, or it might turn into a cute shape that could be played with.
The child, who was of a very poor family, has never held a plastic doll or a musical instrument that makes funny sounds. He was attracted by this strange iron object, which he thought was a toy that will entertain him and his brothers.
The poor child began to explore the dangerous toy, which he found on the side of the road, without his parents having to pay for it, so the child and his siblings paid their lives as the cost for free moments of fun.
Wael was killed, along with his two brothers Ibrahim (6 years old) and Nour El-Deen (7 years old), while three of his child sisters, and their mother, were wounded.
It was an unforgettable day for victims' father, who was not in the house at the time of the explosion, (I felt as if I was cut in the middle; I am psychologically exhausted), this is what the father of the victims said right after he heard about the fatal incident.
If only this was the first time that iron objects carrying death aroused their curiosity, but they were a tragic addition to the dead children who had hoped for a peaceful life with their families.
