Suspect arrested after two schoolgirls killed in landmine explosion in Iraq

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi security forces on Sunday arrested a suspect responsible for the deaths of two primary school students in the Dhi Qar governorate in southern Iraq.

The two schoolgirls were killed earlier in the day after a self-made landmine exploded near a primary school in the al-Nasiriyah region of Dhi Qar Province while another was seriously injured, Iraqi media al-Ghad Press quoted an unnamed security source as saying.

The source said a unit from the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service raided the fisherman’s house in al-Nasiriyah district, adding that the suspect was taken to a detention center where “he will face charges of manufacturing landmines that killed two schoolgirls and injured another.”

According to the source, the three students were on their way to the primary school when the landmine exploded.

The suspect is not believed to be involved in manufacturing explosives for terrorist groups, the source said.

The Civil Defense and Environmental departments in the province have removed thousands of war remnants in the past.

The governorate’s Department of Health, meanwhile, says it has recorded the death and injury of many citizens in remote areas due to landmines and explosives left behind from past wars.