“From the beginning of this year [calendar year starts on 21 March in Iran] until now, at least 15 persons have been wounded by land mine explosions or cluster munitions left-over from the Iran-Iraq war [1980-1988],” said Nematollah Nazparvardeh, the deputy’s governor of Qasr-e-Shirin county [Kermanshah province, near the Iraqi border] to IRNA, the official news-agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
According Nazparvandeh : “The victims of those land mine blasts are mostly farmers, villagers and the staff of the Mine Action Centre in charge of removing the land mines from this area still mine-polluted 28 years after the end of the war.”
From the beginning of this year, at least seven mine blasts took place in the neighbourhood of Qasr-e-Shirin.
The blasts had killed animals in the farms, destroyed tractors and vehicles belonging to the farmers.
Many land mines from the Iran-Iraq war remain planted in various parts of the Qasr-e-Shirin area.
Nazparvardeh personally advises the inhabitants to immediately call the Mine Action Center as soon as they encounter a land mine and to absolutely not try to neutralize or remove them by themselves.
“Hundreds of citizens of Kermanshah province especially in its border towns have lost their lives or have been seriously injured by simply kicking a land mine.” Nazparvardeh said.
Qasr-e-Shirin is a city situated west of Kermanshah Province and it is home to 27.000 people.
The city shares 186km border with neighbouring Iraq.
