Officials in the western Iranian city of Qasr-e Shirin report that it has been the site of 84 landmine explosions in the past two years.
IRNA reports that in a meeting to review landmine-clearing efforts in the affected areas, the Qasr-e Shirin governor’s office reported that in the past two years, 10 people have been killed, 67 have been injured and 21 vehicles have been destroyed by these explosions.
They report that the presence of migrating tribes in the region makes mine-clearing efforts a serious concern.
Fatollah Hosseini, Member of Parliament for Qasr-e Shirin, criticized the persistence of landmine problems in his region. The landmines in the western provinces of Iran are remnants of the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s.
Hosseini reported that in Qasr-e Shirin alone, 21 landmine explosions have occurred since last March, killing three people and injuring 11 more.
The most landmine-infested provinces are reportedly Ilam, Khuzestan and Kermanshah.
