ISIS bullets mostly from China and US

The Islamic State (ISIS) is primarily using ammunition from China and the US in its war against the governments in Syria and Iraq, a new study has revealed.

According to the report published by research group Conflict Armament Research (CAR), ISIS was found to be using ammunition manufactured in 21 countries, with dates of production ranging from 1945 to 2014.

“Two production periods, the 1970s–80s and the 2000s, are most represented in the sample and primarily consist of ammunition manufactured in China, Serbia, Soviet Union/Russian Federation, and the US,” the report said.

“CAR recovered most of the 1970s–80s-dated ammunition in the sample from IS forces in Syria. Ammunition from this period is predominantly of Chinese and Soviet manufacture. By contrast, the sample of ammunition recovered in Iraq is mainly US-manufactured and comprises 5.56 x 45 mm cartridges, which are used in US-supplied M16 and M4 assault rifles of the Iraqi defence and security forces.”

The CAR investigation team documented a total of 1,775 cartridges. Of those 45 were either insufficiently marked or too damaged to determine the year of manufacture and country of origin. This left a sample of 1,730 cartridges.

According to the study, 10 per cent of the sample dated from 2010 onwards. Chinese and Bulgarian cartridges accounted for more than half of this recently manufactured ammunition.