2022 statistics: 286 mines were removed from Kurdistan

Shafaq News/ The Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency announced that three people were killed by mines this year.

The Agency's head, Jabbar Mustafa, told Shafaq News Agency; that 386 mines were removed from different governorates in the region in the first half of 2022.

Mustafa added, "three people died, and 26 were injured in the same period."

He pointed out that the economic crisis affected the Agency's activities, "it forced us to stop removing mines in Kurdistan Region."

Iraq is littered with an estimated 25 million landmines; many lie in areas bordering Iran, a legacy of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war that killed a million people.

Mines claimed 14,000 victims in Iraq between 1991 and 2007, the United Nations Development Program says. More than half died from their wounds. For survivors, life is a daily struggle.