4 Iraqi firms to remove landmines

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Environment Ministry’s landmine affairs department has received official requests to sanction four local companies to remove landmines left from previous wars in all Iraqi provinces, a department source said on Sunday. “The step aims to preserve human lives. The Environment Ministry, represented by the landmine department, had signed a memorandum of understanding with the defense and interior ministries earlier to carry out a program to remove all landmines unexploded shells left from previous wars, namely the Iraqi-Iranian war during the 1980s,” the source told IraqiNews.com news agency. “The department has all the maps of these landmines,” he added. More than 25 million landmines and other military scraps are left in most areas of Iraq, according to statistics by international organizations concerned. AmR (P)/SR 1