Battle-related deaths are deaths in battle-related conflicts between warring parties in the conflict dyad (two units that are parties to a conflict). Typically, battle-related deaths occur in warfare involving the armed forces of the warring parties. This includes traditional battlefield fighting, guerrilla activities, and all kinds of bombardments of military units, cities, villages, and so forth. The targets are usually the military itself and its installations or state institutions and state representatives, but there is often substantial collateral damage in the form of civilians killed in crossfire, indiscriminate bombings etc. All deaths – military as well as civilian – incurred in such situations, are counted as battle-related deaths.
Source: Uppsala Conflict Data Program, Georeferenced Event Dataset