Villager ‘seriously’ injured by landmine in Erbil province

The landmine victim receiving treatment for his severe wounds, April 13, 2022 (Photo: Kurdistan Region Mine Action Agency)
The landmine victim receiving treatment for his severe wounds, April 13, 2022 (Photo: Kurdistan Region Mine Action Agency)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A villager in the Kurdistan Region’s Erbil province was severely wounded by an exploding landmine on Wednesday. 

The incident occurred early Wednesday in Zhilya (Speendarok) village in the Soran Independent Administration in northeastern Erbil near the Iranian border. 

The villager, a Peshmerga, was removing weeds in the area when the mine detonated, the Mayor of Sidakan Ihsan Chalabi told Kurdistan 24 on Wednesday. 

The 30-year-old victim was rushed to an emergency healthcare center for treatment. 

The Kurdistan Region’s Mine Action Agency also confirmed the incident. 

There are still large quantities of landmines and other explosive remnants of war in the Kurdistan Region’s border areas with Iran, most of which were planted by Saddam Hussein’s forces during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. 

Kurdish and international anti-mine agencies have intensified their efforts to raise awareness about the dangers of these devices, which still injure and kill residents of border areas. These areas are considerably more dangerous during the Spring season since the mines are less visible because weeds grow more in that season, which was likely why Wednesday’s victim didn’t see the landmine until it was too late. 

According to the Kurdish Mine Action Agency, more than 13,000 people have been killed by these deadly explosives so far. 

Furthermore, in the last five years alone, 519 children have been killed and maimed in Iraq by explosive ordnances, according to a recent United Nations report.