MORE people were killed by improvised explosive devices last year than any time this century.

Wars in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere have seen a boom in the use of make-shift bombs, often referred to by the abbreviation IEDs. Such devices claimed more than 15,000 civilian lives in 2017, including many children.

The figures emerged as an awareness campaign launched in the House of Commons earlier this year was transformed in to a new not-for-profit organisation to undertake research, fundraising and activity management.

Revive, which stands for ‘Reduce Explosive Violence, Increase Victim Empowerment’, will be led by Roger Mullin, a former Scottish MP who chaired Westminster All-Party Parliamentary Group on explosive weapons.

Mr Mullin, who represented Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath for the SNP between 2015 and 2017, will chair Revive Ltd. Mr Mullin was the first parliamentarian to visit Mosul last year as Iraqi government forces and their allies drove Islamic State from the city. Islamic State fighters left an estimated million IEDs in Mosul, often as booby traps.

Speaking at the launch in the House of Lords on Wednesday, Mr Mullin said: “In my time as the chairman of the APPG on Explosive Weapons in the previous Parliament, I saw for myself the horrific impact of explosive violence.

"At the Erbil trauma hospital in Kurdistan, run by medical charity Emergency UK, I met not just the victims, but also the incredible medical staff who were doing their utmost to look after people whose lives had been shattered.

"Revive will ensure that their work gets the recognition it deserves.”

“It brings home the huge challenge of trying to make people safe in the aftermath of conflict. Too little attention is being paid to the victims of such conflict, particularly the children. That is why developing the work of Revive is so important."

Revive will work in partnership with leading UK charities, including Action on Armed Violence; Emergency UK; Find a Better Way, Legacy of War Foundation and the International Refugee Trust.

Revive said 5,399 civilians were killed in 2017, an increase of 175 per cent since 2011, when the APPG was first created. Far more people, including combatants, are killed by IEDs than by landmines, usually used by formal state militaries, and abandoned or unexploded ordinance in conflict zones.

However, landmines, a report for the APPG published this summer found, attract far more aid funding than IEDs. Some 66 states and territories have reported at least one IED death, including the UK. Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria have the highest numbers.