Over 13,000 people have been killed or injured by landmines in Kurdistan Region: Mine Action Agency

Mustafa Shilani 2022/04/04 21:30

Chalak Taha holds up a VS-50 anti-personnel blast mine he has just defused, Wilyawa, July 5, 2021. (Photo: Joanne Stocker-Kelly)

Kurdistan Kurdistan Landmines Iraq Iran-Iraq war

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Mine Action Agency revealed on Monday that the number of victims killed and injured by landmines in the region has exceeded 13,000.

In a statement, the agency said that 13,500 citizens were killed or wounded by mines in the region.

The statement said that removing all landmines in the Kurdistan Region is prohibitively expensive and not something the regional government can afford to do alone. Authorities have called on citizens not to approach the areas known to contain mines to ensure their safety.

Iraq is among the countries with the highest numbers of landmines and other explosive remnants of war scattered throughout its territory. Each year, these devices kill and maim dozens of citizens.

Most of these mines were planted in the 1980s during the bloody eight-year Iran-Iraq War by the former regime, especially along border areas to hinder the advance of Iranian troops during that war.

There is an estimated 314 million square meters of land that still contain landmines in the Kurdistan Region, according to the Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency (IKMAA).