Land mines remnants of Iran-Iraq war kill, injure 8 in 2017

Mines on the Kurdistan Region border with Iran killed and injured eight people since the beginning of 2017, said a Kurdish official on Saturday.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Landmines on the Kurdistan Region border with Iran has killed and injured eight people so far in 2017, said a Kurdish official on Saturday.

“Four people have been killed and four more injured due to mine explosions near the bordering areas with Iran,” Jamal Jalal, director of Erbil Mine Action Center (EMAC) at the Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency (IKMAA), told Kurdistan 24 on Saturday.

“This year, the number of casualties has decreased compared to figures of 2016. The decrease is related to the social awareness in the Kurdistan Region,” Jalal added.

In 2016, six people were killed and eight more were disabled due to mine explosions, according to IKMAA.

The mines date back to the 1980s during the war between Iraq and Iran where the Iraqi regime planted thousands of mines on the border to hinder the advance of Iranian troops.

The eight-year war between Iran and Iraq began in September 1980 and continued until August 1988.

After 1991, many local and international organizations from mine sectors contributed to clearing the Iraq-Iran border from explosives. Large swaths of territory remain dangerous as they have not been de-mined yet.

There are an estimated 314 million square meters of contaminated land across the Kurdistan Region, according to IKMAA.

 

Editing by Sam A.

(Tayfur Mohammed contributed to this report)