Nails through their hearts | World | DAWN.COM

Nails through their hearts | World | DAWN.COM

clip from article: As protestors gathered after Friday prayers, chanting slogans against Bashar al-Assad, Mohamed heard a loud bang and fell on the road. Everyone suddenly panicked and rushed for cover.

Mohamed carefully looked around only to find scores of people bleeding and some bodies lying around.

“I was scared when I heard people saying ‘nail bombs exploding, run away before getting hurt’,” he explains.

Soon after the first wave of explosions, the protestors went back to help their injured friends. “I could not believe what I saw. People were crying helplessly with pain while others rushed to provide first-aid.”

According to witnesses, nail bombs are launched in the heart of a demonstration from a car and as bombs explode amongst the demonstrators, the vehicle disappears. Dozens of common iron-nails rocket in the air, causing injuries to people sitting as far away from the street as homes and offices.

Before some the protestors regain sense, the next wave of explosions hits them.

“My friend died after a nail pierced through his neck,” says an activist from Homs, while requesting anonymity.

Following several reports of protestors’ disappearance from Syrian hospitals, victims prefer self-treatment in makeshift field clinics instead of seeking aid at local hospitals. The mortality rate, however, remains high.

“It is difficult to take critical cases to hospitals because we know they will be killed there anyway. This way, at least we get to bury them ourselves,” says Abu Zaid. He laments that many protestors lose their limbs and permanently become disabled due to poor treatment.

While the use of nail bombs is prohibited internationally, Syrian security forces have been using them against protestors since last August. Demonstrators in cities like Doma, Homs and Hama have suffered the highest number of casualties.

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