The Basra Human Rights Office has called on the local government to implement key recommendations from the Landmine and War Remnants Victims Committee, urging immediate action to address the “growing threat” of unexploded ordnance, an official said on Tuesday.
Mahdi Al-Tamimi, the Office’s director, told Shafaq News that the Basra Provincial Council must activate the committee’s recommendations, which include holding urgent meetings with relevant authorities to resolve the longstanding issue. Al-Tamimi said, stressing that the issue requires “serious commitment from the Iraqi government and greater cooperation to clear minefields and war remnants.”
Read more…
Source: Shafaq News
Sign up for Counter-IED Report Newsletter
Related:
- 27 Iraqi mine action experts under training in Cambodia
May 27, 2019
Twenty-seven Iraqi mine action experts started to get a 15-day training course in Cambodia on Monday, Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mines Action Center (CMAC) said. The Iraqi experts are from the Ministry of Health and Environment, the Ministry of Interior and the Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency, he said. He added that the training ...
- Experiencing the work of a landmine clearance charity
May 24, 2019
Even though I was told it was safe, holding an Islamic State group (IS) homemade explosive was still unnerving. Half an hour earlier it had been buried in the ground on the outskirts of the Iraqi city of Fallujah. It was made up of two pieces of wood with bits of cut-up hosepipe. A length of wire ...
- Statement on New Use of Anti-Personnel Mines, Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meeting
May 23, 2019
Let me start by giving some context on the new use of antipersonnel mines worldwide. In recent years, since the last Review Conference, the use of antipersonnel mines by government forces has been rare. In most years, only one or two governments used mines—Myanmar and Syria – and neither of them used large numbers of ...
- Explosive hazards in Mosul a major threat for years to come
April 29, 2019
The classroom of 13-year-old boys was vibrant, filled with energy, as the final lesson of the day began, addressing a serious topic. One of the guest instructors held up posters of various suspicious objects. Some were more obviously mortars or hand grenades, but others appeared to be fun things, such as toys and dolls. Representatives from the United Nations ...
- Tribal leader killed in Mosul roadside bombing
April 11, 2019
A roadside bomb killed a tribal leader and wounded two of his relatives in the al-Shoura district south of Mosul on Wednesday, local officials confirmed. “An IED exploded targeting the convoy of Sheikh Hassan al-Hadidi on Wednesday killing him instantly and injuring his son and nephew,” Khalaf al-Hadidi, a member of Nineveh Provincial ...
- Australia donates additional $1.5 million to de-mining efforts in Iraq
February 18, 2019
Australia recently donated an additional USD 1.5 million to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in contributions to demining efforts in Iraqi areas that were liberated from the Islamic State. Explosives the terrorist organization planted continue to be one of the greatest threats that impede the return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to their homes. The ...
- Mosul’s ‘3D contamination’ adds to challenges of deadly mine clearance work
February 7, 2019
Government-led military campaigns and conflict to retake Iraq’s cities from the extremists, also known as Da’esh, displaced more than 5.8 million people between 2014 and 2017. Many are still homeless or unable to return home because of what UNMAS calls “significant explosive hazard contamination” linked to airstrikes and improvised explosive devices left behind by ISIL and ...
- How is the reconstruction of Iraq going?
January 31, 2019
In July 2017, the last Islamic State fighters left in the city of Mosul attempted to flee by swimming across the mighty Tigris River that runs through Iraq’s second largest city. They had been defeated. As patriotic music blared out of portable speaker systems, Iraqi soldiers danced on tanks and re-raised their national flag. But, as ...
- Iraqi scientist says he helped ISIS make chemical weapons
January 21, 2019
In the weeks after his city fell to the Islamic State, Iraqi scientist Suleiman al-Afari sat in his deserted government office and waited for the day when the terrorists would show up. The black-clad militants who had seized Mosul in 2014 were making their way through each of its bureaucracies, rounding up workers and managers who ...
- UK aid removing Daesh explosives and helping Iraqis return home
January 5, 2019
More than a million Iraqis whose lives have been devastated by Daesh safely returned home in 2018, made possible in part thanks to a huge UK aid funded mine clearance mission. The Department for International Development (DFID) has today (Saturday 5 January) announced further support to clear explosives from schools, hospitals and roads in Iraq, eradicating ...
- Italy donates 585,000 euros to explosive hazard clearance in Iraq
December 20, 2018
Italy has committed a further 585,000 euros to UNMAS, the UN’s mine clearing agency, to support efforts to clear Iraq of landmines and unexploded remnants of war, allowing displaced families to return. Years of war with ISIS have left the ground and buildings of Iraq saturated with explosive hazards. Until this complex work is complete, reconstruction ...
- The European Union continues to support explosive hazard management and capacity enhancement activities in liberated areas of Iraq
December 18, 2018
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) thanks the European Union for its continuous support to explosive hazard management and capacity enhancement activities in liberated areas of Iraq, which contributes to the safe, orderly and dignified return of displaced communities and enables humanitarian and stabilization efforts. Across liberated areas, explosive hazard contamination prevents access for humanitarian ...
- Homemade bombs, shootings at southern Iraq oil fields
December 7, 2018
Local disputes following field protests raise tension in Iraq’s key oil provinces. Improvised explosive devices (IED) were found in the vicinity of two oil fields in southern Iraq this week, a discovery that occurred in conjunction with a shooting at another oil field as well as renewed protests over a lack of jobs and services. On Thursday, ...
- Mission Iraq: Britain’s Quest To Train An Army To Fight Islamic State
November 27, 2018
It was once a secret base for Saddam Hussein’s personal army but now Camp Taji hosts 400 members of the 1st Battalion, The Grenadier Guards as they train the Iraqi Army. Lieutenant Colonel Piers Ashfield, Commanding Officer of The Grenadiers, said British troops have been providing “expertise” training. “I think the key thing about British training has been the expertise it ...
- $3 Million Reward Announced for Information Leading to Arrest of Iranian Tied to Illegal Procurement of U.S. Technology
November 22, 2018
The United States Department of State’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program is offering up to a $3,000,000 (USD) reward leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Hossein Ahmad Larijani. Larijani is wanted for his role in illegally procuring technology that originated in the United States and which was later incorporated into improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that targeted ...
- Rifles And Engineers Put Final Training Into Practice Ahead Of Iraq Deployment
November 7, 2018
3rd Battalion the Rifles along with 21 and 35 Engineer Regiment have been carrying out their final training in Wales ahead of deploying to Iraq in December. The Iraqi military continues to battle so-called Islamic State and 200 British troops will help train them in counter IED and close protection. In Iraq road sides ...
- Iraqi forces in Kirkuk arrest sleeper cell of 26 involved in recent terrorist activities
November 5, 2018
Iraqi counter-terrorism in the disputed province of Kirkuk on Monday announced they had arrested a group of 26 terrorists which had recently been active in the area. “The terrorist sleeper cell was made up of 26 people, among them women,” the statement reads. The statement mentioned the group was in possession of suicide vests, improvised explosive devices ...
- Kurdish security says VBIED attacks re-emerging, IS assassinations unabated in October
November 4, 2018
Terrorist attacks using car bombs are re-emerging, and assassinations of village leaders and striking electrical grid remain persistent in contested areas in October, the Kurdistan Region’s Security Council (KRSC) announced on Sunday. The KRSC’s statistics for the month indicate “a re-emergence of VBIED-based attacks in Kirkuk and Mosul,” the Kurdish security agency ...
- K-9 dog security training centre opens in Duhok
October 26, 2018
A centre for training K-9 security dogs has opened in Duhok. It comes due to increasing demand for canine security in Iraq. Being put through his paces – this Duhok dog undergoes vigorous training at a new K-9 centre in Iraq. The centre’s founders say they opened as a result of greater demand for security dogs throughout Iraq ...
- UNMAS supports UK DFID delegation visit to Mosul
October 18, 2018
The presence of explosive hazards, including improvised explosive devices in areas liberated from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), will continue to impede security and stability efforts as well as development initiatives until these are cleared and rendered safe. A delegation from DFID was recently hosted by UNMAS in Mosul and had the ...
- ISIS booby-trapped hospitals, schools and kids’ playgrounds with explosives as they fled Iraq
October 8, 2018
Terror state killers have wired multiple graves of up to 4,000 dead men, women and children with devices in a bid to kill heart-broken relatives desperate to retrieve remains for proper burial. The gruesome tactic – now being uncovered across liberated ISIS territory – is being dealt with by UN de-mining forces funded by vital Dfid ...
- The Government of New Zealand donates USD 160,000 and deploys in-kind specialized personnel to support UNMAS explosive hazard management activities in Iraq
September 25, 2018
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) welcomes a contribution of NZD 250,000 (USD 160,000) from the Government of New Zealand and is grateful for the deployment of an in-kind Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Threat Mitigation Advisor to support explosive hazard management activities in Iraq. Extensive conflict in Iraq involving the Islamic State of Iraq and ...