There are still tens of millions of unexploded landmines and explosive ordnance scattered across Kurdish areas in Iran and Iraq, more than three decades after the devastating war of 1980-88 between the two countries came to an end. 

Dozens of people including children are maimed or killed every year in both countries as a result of stepping on these hazards. 

The Mine Action Agency of the Kurdistan Regional Government, with other NGOs including the UK-based Mines Advisory Group (MAG), have cleared huge swathes of the Kurdistan Region, but their demining teams continue their work throughout the year.

Mukhles Sofi of the Kurdistan Region's Mine Action Agency told Rudaw in December that more than 380 minefields have been identified in Erbil province alone. 

Here, a demining team from Soran clear the Sepindarok minefield overlooking the village of Zhilia in the Sidakan area of Erbil. (pictures: Fazel Hawramy, December 18, 2019)