A Kurdish man, Hadi Ghoncheh-Doust, from Zali village in Baneh, Kurdistan Province, died today from severe injuries caused by the explosion of military ordnance left over from the Iran-Iraq war.
The Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned that the explosion took place while Ghoncheh-Doust was handling the ordnance and that he died from the severity of his injuries after being taken to Salahuddin Ayoubi Hospital in Baneh.
According to the statistics compiled by the KHRN, during the Iranian year 1402 (21 March 2023 – 19 March 2024), at least two people were killed as a result of landmine explosions in Kermanshah Province and a civilian from Baneh was killed due to a landmine explosion in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Additionally, at least twelve individuals, including two children, were injured or suffered amputations due to mine explosions in the provinces of Ilam, Kermanshah, Kurdistan, and West Azerbaijan.
Some of these landmines and war munitions date back to the Iran-Iraq War and the Islamic Republic’s military attack on Kurdistan in the 80s. The remaining explosives were deployed during recent military operations by the Islamic Republic of Iran to counter the presence of Kurdish opposition party members in the region.
