WHO condemns reported attacks using ambulances to target civilians in Tikrit and Samarra. WHO received reports of suicide bombers driving ambulances, killing more than 20 people and injuring dozens more at a checkpoint in Tikrit and a car park in Samarra. The reported use of medical vehicles as weapons threatens the ability to deliver health care and urgent medical services. When ambulances are suspected as potential security threats, their freedom of movement to care for the sick and injured is at risk of life-threatening delays. Such delays will leave vulnerable people with even less access to life-saving medical care.
WHO is increasingly concerned by the continuous threats to health workers, facilities and transport. WHO is working together with national health authorities and partners to protect patients, health workers, health infrastructure and supplies from violence and thus minimize disruptions to desperately needed health care.
