Kurdistan
Iraq and the Kurdistan Region continue to grapple with the deadly legacy of landmines and unexploded ordnance left behind by decades of conflict. Photo: AP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Landmines and unexploded ordnance killed six people and left four others amputated in Erbil province during 2025, a mine clearance official said on Monday.
“Last year, 10 civilians fell victim to landmines. Six lost their lives, while four others suffered amputations,” Ali Abdulrehman, director of the Kurdistan Region’s Mine Action Agency (IKMAA) in Erbil, told a press conference.
Abdulrehman said that more than 800,799 square meters of land were cleared of landmines in Erbil province and the Soran independent administration over the past year.
During the same period, IKMAA teams detected and destroyed 1,616 anti-personnel mines, two anti-tank mines, and 23,163 pieces of unexploded ordnance.
A total of 11 minefields were fully cleared in Erbil, with the lands subsequently handed back to their owners, he added.
Despite these efforts, 283 minefields in the province remain uncleared.
“A plan has been prepared to remove these mines in the future,” Abdulrehman said.
The Kurdistan Region’s rugged and mountainous terrain continues to harbor landmines dating back to the eight-year Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988).
More recent conflicts - particularly fighting between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) along the Kurdistan Region’s borders - have also left behind explosive remnants of war, with some minefields located just a few hundred meters from residential villages.
The Iraqi Directorate for Mine Action (DMA) and IKMAA are currently cooperating under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2024, which outlines mutual technical support through 2028.
Iraq and the Kurdistan Region continue to grapple with the deadly legacy of landmines and unexploded ordnance left behind by decades of conflict, including the Iran-Iraq War, the 1991 Gulf War, the 2003 US-led invasion, and the Islamic State’s (ISIS) control over large parts of the country between 2014 and 2017.
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