Mine Explosion in Iranian Kurdish Village Injures 7 Children

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Seven Kurdish children were severely injured in a mine explosion near the city of Mariwan in Iranian Kurdistan on Friday.

Local eyewitness said that the mine exploded as the children, four boys and three girls, were playing in a former military base abandoned by the Iranian revolutionary guards near Nishkash village.

Due to the severity of her injuries, Gashin Karimi, 8, was rushed to Tehran for treatment while the others were hospitalized in Mariwan.

Doctors said they may have to amputate Karimi’s leg to save her life.

However, Omed Karimian, the representative of Mariwan in the Iranian parliament, told an Iranian news agency, Tasnim, that one of the children had found the unexploded mine outside the village.

“He brought it (the mine) home where the children gathered and played with it,” he said. 

According to Karimian, another villager was killed last week from mine explosion.

Mariwan’s representative blamed the ministries of the interior and defense for the incidents, saying, “They have been negligent in clearing the landmines in the area.”

Karimian said that he will try to summon the defense and interior ministers to parliament for questioning.

Dozens of civilians lose their lives or suffer injuries from landmines across the Iran-Kurdistan Region borders every year.

The mines date back to the days of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.