• R M Coupland and H O Samnegaard.
• Unit of the Chief Medical Officer, International Committee of the Red Cross, 19 avenue de la Paix, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland. rcoupland@icrc.org
• BMJ. 1999 Aug 14; 319 (7207): 410-2.

ObjectiveTo examine the link between different weapons used in modern wars and their potential to injury civilians.DesignRetrospective analysis of prospectively collected data about hospital admissions.SettingHospitals of the International Committee of the Red Cross.Subjects18 877 people wounded by bullets, fragmentation munitions, or mines. Of these, 2012 had been admitted to the hospital in Kabul within six hours of injury.Main Outcome MeasuresAge and sex of wounded people according to cause of injury and whether they were civilians (women and girls, boys under 16 years old, or men of 50 or more).Results18.7% of those injured by bullets, 34.1% of those injured by fragments, and 30.8% of those injured by mines were civilians. Of those admitted to the Red Cross hospital in Kabul within six hours of injury, 39.1% of those injured by bullets, 60.6% of those injured by fragments, and 55.0% of those injured by mines were civilians.ConclusionsThe proportion of civilians injured differs between weapon systems. The higher proportion injured by fragments and mines is explicable in terms of the military efficiency of weapons, the distance between user and victim, and the effect that the kind of weapon has on the psychology of the user.

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