Mine clearance top priority: Iran defense minister

Tehran, Feb 26, IRNA – Iran's minister of defense said Tuesday mine cleaning is a priority of engineering department at his ministry. 'The absolute cleaning-up of abandoned mines is impossible, but people expect us to do our best,' Brigadier General Amir Hatami said at a congress of Iranian defense engineers. The areas contaminated with landmines and explosive remnants of war are mostly in five Iranian border provinces of Khuzestan, Ilam, West Azarbaijan, Kurdestan and Kermanshah. The website of Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor that updates the data on landmines and unexploded ordnances, reported in 2018 that a total of 9,925 war remnants explosions have killed 2,823 and injured 7,095 in Iran. The number of casualties only in 2017 was 84 that increased 64 compared to the figure of 2016, according to the website. The minister also stressed the importance of updating the war experience of defense engineers by studying the wars of post Iran-Iraq war era. 'We are facing new type of threats such as terrorist and suicide attacks, and the defense ministry's engineering department should deal with the hike in the intensity of conventional and unconventional explosions,' he said urging the ministry to get prepared for such developments. 9156**2044 Follow us on Twitter @IrnaEnglish