2300 landmines removed from eastern borders with Iran

MISSAN / IraqiNews.com: The Missan explosives experts removed 2300 landmines from eastern areas on the border with Iran on Sunday, according to a Missan local council’s security committee member. “Anti-personnel and anti-armor landmines left since the time of the Iraqi-Iranian war in the 1980s were removed in the area of Abu Gharb, (75 km) east of al-Amara,” Maytham Lifta told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The landmines committee that removed the explosives is composed of the Iraqi army’s 10th Division’s Sappers Corps, the health & environment committee and the civil defense,” Lifta added. He noted that this border area has got joint oil wells with the Iranian side. “These wells have not been utilized due to the landmines in this area”. The province of Missan has witnessed several incidents of explosions of landmines that killed or wounded shepherds or workers drilling for oil wells in the areas of Abu Gharb and al-Tayyib on the Iraqi-Iranian borders. The Iraqi-Iranian war lasted for eight years from 1980 to 1988. Amara, the capital city of Missan province, lies 390 km south of Baghdad. AmR (P)/SR 2