Demining agency clears a minefield in Soran independent administration

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The General Directorate of the Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency (MAA) in Erbil on Wednesday announced in a statement that they had defused a number of mines in the Sidekan district of the Soran independent administration.

The statement added that 10 VS-50 mines were defused in the minefield of Spindarok in the Sidekan district.

The Explosive Ordnance Disposal team of the MAA defused 10 VS-50 mines.

The MAA reaffirmed that the technical process and minefield cleaning will continue.

There is an estimated number of 314 square kilometers of land that still contains landmines in the Kurdistan Region, the MAA announced on April 4, 2022. 

Many of the landmines in the Kurdistan Region are located on the Iranian border. These landmines are a relic of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, as the Iraqi army specifically mined Kurdish areas to prevent Kurdish rebels from collaborating with Iran. 35 years since the end of the war, approximately half of those landmines still remain.

With landmines populating 650 square kilometers of land, Iraq has the most landmines of any country in the world, according to the international Landmine Monitor. Of those 650 square kilometers, nearly half (314 km2) are located in the Kurdistan Region.

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