Shafaq News- Al-Muthanna
Authorities in Iraq’sAl-Muthanna province have cleared nearly 180 square kilometers ofmine-contaminated land in Basiyah district after decades of war-relatedpollution, a local official revealed on Monday, pointing to a decline incasualties caused by unexploded ordnance.
Hayef Saleh Muzhir, directorof Basiyah district, told Shafaq News that casualties before the launch ofdemining operations had reached around 37 deaths and injuries, adding thathazardous zones have since been marked with warning signs to reduce risks tocivilians.
Some contaminated areas, Muzhirsaid, were later incorporated into oil exploration projects, with energycompanies removing mines along operational road routes. He linked the heavyconcentration of mines in Basiyah to the 1991 Gulf War, when retreating Iraqiforces and extensive US cluster bomb strikes left large desert areascontaminated.
Despite ongoing operations,four minefields dating back to before 1991 remain in the district, he noted,calling for expanded demining and public awareness teams across Basiyah’s morethan 11 million dunams (1,100,000 hectares).
Al-Muthanna remains amongIraq’s most heavily affected provinces in terms of mine victims, with more than4,000 deaths, injuries, and disabilities recorded since 1991, Ahmed HamdanAl-Jashami, head of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Association toldour agency in April. He estimated that around 70% of the district has beencleared, warning that desert areas in Basiyah still contain tens of thousandsof unexploded munitions left from the 1991 conflict.
At the national level, Fadelal-Gharawi, head of the Strategic Center for Human Rights, outlined thatofficial figures record more than 30,000 victims of landmines and unexplodedordnance since 2003, including men, women, and children.
: Spoiled by the coil: Iraq's mines battles take their toll
