News – June 2023


  • U.S.-led NATO explosive ordnance disposal task unit demonstrates interoperability, readiness in exercise BALTOPS 23

    June 12, 2023

    Explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) divers and technicians from Belgium, Denmark, France, Norway and the United States, assigned to NATO Task Unit 30, are participating in exercise Baltic Operations 2023 (BALTOPS 23) in Germany, Poland, and in the Baltic Sea, from June 5-16. Task Unit 30, led by Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 8, based in Rota, ...

  • Cambodia: Farmers in Banteay Meanchey find cache of buried UXO

    June 12, 2023

    Four relics of war – unexploded ordnance (UXO) – were found by villagers while they were plowing fields on Saturday. The UXO was identified as leftover from the war and reported to authorities at 1:20pm on Saturday. Local authorities said that villagers were plowing fields to plant cassava around O’Kambot in Slor Kram village in Svay ...

  • Lebanon: Chinese peacekeeping engineering contingent to clears eight minefields

    June 12, 2023

    BEIJING, June 12 — The handover ceremony for a new batch of minefields cleared by the Chinese peacekeepers was held near the “Blue Line” on the Lebanon-Israel border. The staff of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Command, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and other departments signed the minefield handover letter after ...

  • Pakistan: Girl killed, two injured in landmine explosion in Kashmore

    June 11, 2023

    A girl was killed and two others were injured in a landmine explosion in Kashmore on Saturday. Rescue officials said a landmine suddenly exploded in Qaisar Khan Jakhrani village near Bakhshapur due to which a girl died on the spot and two people were injured. Police and rescue teams reached the spot and shifted the dead ...

  • Türkiye: Five workers dead in rocket and explosives factory blast in Ankara

    June 10, 2023

    At least five workers died on Saturday in an explosion at a rocket and explosives factory in Türkiye’s capital Ankara, according to the country’s National Defense Ministry. “An explosion occurred at the MKE Rocket and Explosives Factory in the Elmadag district of Ankara. As a result of the explosion, five of our workers have been martyred,” ...

  • Somalia: Discarded mortar detonates killing more than 20 children and young people in Lower Shabelle

    June 10, 2023

    A mortar shell explosion in Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region has killed more than 20 mostly children and young people and injured more than 50, according to media reports. Most of the victims who were killed on Friday were aged between 10 and 15 years, according to news reports, which blamed the blast on an unexploded mortar ...

  • Trafficking in the Sahel: Muzzling the illicit arms trade

    June 10, 2023

    In this feature, part of a series exploring the fight against trafficking in the Sahel, UN News focuses on the illegal arms trade that is fuelling conflict and terrorism. In the Sahel, home to 300 million people, it’s a buyer’s market for guns. Insurgency and banditry plague the region, rooted in, among other things, endemic intercommunal ...

  • Poland: Two men charged following theft of ammunition from a train in Lower Silesia

    June 9, 2023

    Four boxes of ammunition were stolen on Sunday from a special train operated by American soldiers, which had a stop in Węgliniec. The police detained in this case three residents of the Zgorzelec county aged 26, 34, 39 years. According to the uniformed thieves, they did not know what they were stealing and for fear of ...

  • Cambodia: RCAF detachment bound for Chinese mine clearance training

    June 9, 2023

    Eight Cambodian soldiers are bound for China, where they will attend a three-month mine clearance training course. The trainees were due to leave for China on June 9, where they will remain until August, said a June 8 social media post from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF). “Attending this humanitarian mine clearance training course in ...

  • Afghanistan: At least 11 killed in mosque explosion in Badakhshan province

    June 8, 2023

    An explosion near a mosque in northern Afghanistan killed at least 11 people at a memorial service for the Taliban’s provincial deputy governor, who died in an attack earlier this week, officials said. A former Taliban police official was among those killed and more than 30 others were wounded in the explosion near Nabawi Mosque on ...

  • UK: Man appears in court accused of making ‘explosive substance for unlawful purpose’

    June 8, 2023

    A man has appeared in court charged with making an explosive substance for an unlawful purpose. David Prior is accused of making an explosive substance – namely ‘improvised explosive devices’ – between January 1 and June 2 this year. The 50-year-old appeared at Manchester Magistrates’ Court today (June 8). He spoke only to confirm his name ...

  • Ethiopia says it foiled al-Shabab attack near border with Somalia

    June 7, 2023

    Ethiopia says it foiled a suicide attack by the armed group al-Shabab at a border town with Somalia. The Ethiopian army “stopped the attackers in their tracks before they could wreak havoc” in the Ethiopia-Somalia border town of Somali Region of Ethiopia, the foreign ministry said in a Twitter post on Wednesday. “The Ethiopian National Defense ...

  • Kenya: At least seven officers injured in Mandera improvised explosive device attack

    June 7, 2023

    At least seven police officers sustained injuries when the vehicle they were traveling in ran over an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Mandera South on Wednesday. The victims were injured to varying degrees, with some suffering injuries to the head, neck, and chest during the morning attack. The IED had been strategically planted on the left ...

  • Pennsylvania: Bomb squad removes explosive device after suspects try to blow up ATM in Olney

    June 7, 2023

    An attempted robbery at a variety store in Pennsylvania: ’s Olney section required the help of a bomb squad early Wednesday morning. An employee told police that three men entered the store on the 4700 block of North 5th Street with what appeared to be a stick of dynamite. It was actually an illegal improvised explosive ...

  • Ukraine dam’s destruction increases mines threat – Red Cross

    June 7, 2023

    The destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine will have a catastrophic effect on locating landmines in the affected region, the Red Cross warned Wednesday. “We knew where the hazards were,” said Erik Tollefsen, head of the Weapon Contamination Unit at the International Committee of the Red Cross. “Now we don’t know. “All we know is ...

  • Afghanistan: Badakhshan provincial governor killed in car bombing in Faizabad

    June 6, 2023

    The acting governor of a northeastern Afghan province has been killed in a car bombing, officials said, months after the region’s police chief was killed in a similar attack claimed by an affiliate of the ISIL (ISIS) group. On Tuesday, the bomber rammed a car filled with explosives into the vehicle carrying Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, the ...

  • Pakistan: Bomb blasts in Peshawar and South Waziristan leaving two dead and three injured

    June 6, 2023

    In a series of unfortunate events, two separate incidents of bombings have shaken the region. South Waziristan fell victim to a devastating bomb blast, resulting in two fatalities and leaving three individuals injured. Simultaneously, in Peshawar, an explosive device detonated near the residence of a businessman, fortunately causing no loss of life. According to local authorities, ...

  • Ukraine expects to involve UNDP in demining

    June 6, 2023

    This was discussed during a meeting between First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyrydenko and UNDP Mine Action Coordinator in Ukraine Paul Heslop, the press service of the Ministry of Economy reports, according to Ukrinform. It is noted that during the meeting, the parties discussed ways to optimise the work of non-governmental operators, ...

  • Croatian RAK-SA-12 now actively used in Ukrainian Armed Forces

    June 6, 2023

    The SBGS shared photos on their Facebook account, highlighting the 128-mm multiple launch rocket systems transferred by Croatia as part of military defense assistance. These mini-MLRS can unleash a barrage of 12 shells of a 128 mm caliber in just 9.6 seconds, providing a formidable defense capability. The newly released images feature not only the MLRS ...

  • Somalia: Four dead, several wounded in bomb blast in Mogadishu

    June 6, 2023

    An explosion occurred last night within a house in the Shirkole neighborhood of the Hodan district in Mogadishu amid tight security measures. The explosion from an IED was aimed to assassinate the former commander of the Hodan District Police Station, Abdifitah Qoslaye. He escaped unharmed from the bombing. Read more… Source: AllAfrica  

  • Ukraine says destruction of Kakhovka dam and flooding will not derail its counter-offensive

    June 6, 2023

    Kyiv has vowed that the destruction of the huge Nova Kakhovka dam and flooding of frontline areas in southeastern Ukraine will not derail its planned counter-offensive as it accused Russia’s occupation force of destroying the facility on the Dnipro river in a “panic”. The Kremlin denied responsibility for the breach early on Tuesday morning, and accused ...

  • Cambodia: 200 landmines and UXO remnants destroyed in Mondulkiri province

    June 5, 2023

    Cambodia took a significant step towards ensuring safety and peace within its borders as competent authorities destroyed remnants of over 200 landmines and unexploded ordnances (UXO) on June 4. The destruction of landmines and UXO took place in the Royor commune of Mondulkiri province’s Koh Nhek district, led by Sem Sovanny, second vice-president of the Cambodian ...

  • South Carolina: Charleston airport expands K-9 presence to increase security

    June 5, 2023

    The Charleston International Airport welcomed two K-9 officers and their handlers to their security team on Monday morning. The new officers have been trained by the Transportation Security Administration through a rigorous four-month program, airport spokesman Spencer Pryor said. The program trains and deploys both TSA-led and state and law enforcement-led canine teams that protect the ...

  • Myanmar: Civilians pay the price as land mines play growing role in the conflict

    June 5, 2023

    The war zone has expanded in the two years since the putsch in Myanmar, and so have the number of minefields. Both Myanmar military and resistance forces use mines to attack each other. And it is an important weapon for resistance forces, who are inferior to the Myanmar military in terms of weaponry. Read more… Source: The Irrawaddy