Landmine kills one on Kurdistan Region-Iran border

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A farmer was killed by a landmine on the Kurdistan Region’s border with Iran on Friday.

The landmine exploded at around 9 in the morning near Kodo Mountain in the Haji Omran area of Erbil province. The victim was a 28-year-old farmer who was working in the area when the mine exploded, according to Abdulwahab Mahmood, the mayor of Haji Omran.

Mahmood told Rudaw that the mine was Italian-made. Italian landmines, primarily the Valmara 69, were widely used in the border areas during the eight year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

According to the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Mine Action Agency, there have been over 13,400 mine victims since the 1990s.

In 2020, around 18 people were victims of landmines in the Kurdistan Region, Obed Ahmed, director of technical affairs at the landmine agency, told Rudaw English in April.

Organizations like the Mine Action Agency and the UK-based Mines Advisory Group (MAG) have cleared swathes of land, but a lot of work is still to be done. There are millions of unexploded landmines and explosive ordinances along the border and an estimated 3,000 minefields in the Kurdistan Region.

Landmine kills one on Kurdistan Region-Iran border

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