UN: Mines kill, injure more than 500 children in Iraq

At least 519 children have been killed or injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance in Iraq in the past five years, UN agencies have warned.

“More than 80 percent of children affected are boys,” the rights groups UNICEF, the world body’s children’s agency, and the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) said in a joint statement on Monday night.

They added that boys were “disproportionately impacted due to incidents of child labour, such as grazing animals or collecting scrap metal to sell”.