Shepherd Seriously Injured in a Mine Explosion North of Erbil

Shafaq News / A 15-year-old shepherd was seriously injured on Friday in the Sidekan district of the Kurdistan Region.

The incident occurred due to a land mine explosion, amputating the man’s right hand and damaging his feet.

It is worth noting that Iraq is littered with an estimated 25 million landmines; many lie in areas bordering Iran, a legacy of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war that killed a million people.

There are 3,512 registered minefields in Kurdistan alone, and the Regional Mine Action Agency has been working to clear Kurdistan of landmines and unexploded ordnance placed by the former Iraqi government over the past 40 years and the Iranian Army during the Iran-Iraq War.

The Agency is overcoming many challenges and has cleared many minefields to return the land to the owners.

According to the UN Development Program, mines claimed 14,000 victims in Iraq between 1991 and 2007, more than half of whom died from their wounds; as for survivors, their life is a daily struggle.