Iraqis Planted Illegal Mines, Group Reports
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NICOSIA, Cyprus — Millions of land mines illegally planted by Iraqi troops have killed or maimed thousands of Kurdish civilians, a human rights group said in a report released today.
The mines, mostly Italian-made, also have made large areas of farmland in northern Iraq too dangerous to use and hinder the rebuilding of destroyed villages in the Kurdistan region, according to a report from Middle East Watch.
“It is a reasonable conclusion that the Iraqi army laid and abandoned these millions of mines to make large areas of Kurdistan unusable for all time,” the New York-based group reported.
Official comments from the Iraqi government are voiced only through the official media, and there was no mention of the report by the state-run organizations.
The report was based on a survey of 15 minefields.
The human rights group said Iraqi soldiers kept no maps to show where the mines were laid. It said the mine-laying was indiscriminate and posed an unacceptable threat to civilians in violation of international law.
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