RESEARCH ARTICLE Injury and death during the ISIS occupation of Mosul and its liberation: Results from a 40- cluster household survey Riyadh Lafta1, Maha A. Al-Nuaimi2, Gilbert Burnham3* 1 Department of Community Medicine, Al Mustansiriya University, Baghdad, Iraq, 2 National Center for Research and Treatment of Blood Diseases, Baghdad, Iraq, 3 Department of International Health, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America a1111111111 *
[email protected] a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 Abstract a1111111111 Background Measurement of mortality and injury in conflict situations presents many challenges com- OPEN ACCESS pared with stable situations. However, providing information is important to assess the Citation: Lafta R, Al-Nuaimi MA, Burnham G impact of conflict on populations and to estimate humanitarian needs, both in the immediate (2018) Injury and death during the ISIS occupation and longer term. Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, was overrun by fighters of the Islamic of Mosul and its liberation: Results from a 40- State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on June 4, 2014. In this study, we conducted household sur- cluster household survey. PLoS Med 15(5): veys to measure reported deaths, injuries, and kidnappings in Mosul, Iraq, both during the e1002567. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pmed.1002567 occupation of the city by fighters of ISIS and the months of Iraqi military action known as the liberation. Academic Editor: Peter Byass, Umeå Centre for Global Health Research, Umeå University, SWEDEN Methods and findings Received: November 22, 2017 Mosul was overrun by ISIS forces on June 4, 2014, and was under exclusive ISIS control for Accepted: April 13, 2018 29 months.