Mine explosion kills two in Halabja province
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two people were killed in Halabja province’s Tawella town on Tuesday after a mine exploded, according to local officials.
Aso Kawis and Gashtyar Sharif were in Tawella, along the Kurdistan Region's border with Iran, collecting seasonal plants when a mine exploded, according to Biyare district's mayor Hamid Baram.
Kawis died immediately, and Sharif followed shortly after in the hospital after succumbing to the injuries he had sustained.
A police source told Rudaw that the explosion took place after the two men touched a mortar.
“The two people went to a contaminated area where the signs of hazardous areas are present,” the mayor told Rudaw.
The area is known for being contaminated with remnant mines from during the eight-year-long war between Iran and Iraq which started in 1980. There are tens of millions of unexploded landmines and explosive ordinances across the Kurdistan Region’s borders with Iran, and the remnants date back to the war.
There are around 3,000 minefields in the Kurdistan Region. Around 2,700 people have been killed by landmines and 10,800 others wounded or maimed since the 1990s, according to the KRG’s Mine Action Agency.
A vast area scattered with landmines needs to be cleared, otherwise it will continue to claim lives and leave civilians with long-term disabilities if not thoroughly cleaned.