- Title: Iraqis returning to homes rigged with bombs by Islamic State
- Date: 2nd December 2016
- Summary: KHAZER, ERBIL, IRAQ (DECEMBER 1, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF A MINE CLEARER FROM THE MINES ADVISORY GROUP (MAG) USING METAL DETECTOR TO FIND LAND MINES TWO MINE CLEARERS UNCOVERING A LAND MINE NEAR A FIELD SANDBAGS SURROUNDING ACTIVE LAND MINE MAG WORKERS WALKING AWAY FROM UNCOVERED LAND MINE BURIED LAND MINE WITH SANDBAGS AROUND IT AREA / LAND MINE IN THE DISTANCE MARKED BY SANDBAGS / COUNTDOWN / LOUD EXPLOSION AS LAND MINE IS BLOWN UP / SMOKE MAG WORKERS REMOVING BLUE TARPAULIN COVERING SEVERAL LAND MINES REMOVED FROM AREA RUSTY LAND MINES IN ROWS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SALAM MOHAMMED, MINES ADVISORY GROUP (MAG) SPOKESPERSON, SAYING: "This village is heavily… is one of those villages which is heavily mined. On our arrival only 43 families returned back, so we started the clearance of mine rows, close to those villagers and their houses. After we achieved that, we moved to the highly contaminated areas and removing booby traps inside the houses." VARIOUS OF LAND MINES REMOVED FROM VILLAGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SALAM MOHAMMED, MINES ADVISORY GROUP (MAG) SPOKESPERSON, SAYING: "The mine row in this village going through the houses, just aiming, not outskirts of the village, just aiming in the village and the villagers after their return, because they've been away living in the IDP, Internally Displaced People camps and in the renting houses in the other villages. So, they have been out for more than 2 years and three months, so they run out of their money reserve. Some of them, they know it's risky, they still, they want to come home." VARIOUS OF CHILDREN WARMING HANDS ON CLAY-BUILD BREAD STOVE HANDS OF CHILDREN OVER FIRE OF BREAD STOVE CHILD RUBBING HIS EYES CHILDREN STANDING AROUND BREAD STOVE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) 73-YEAR-OLD FARMER AND VILLAGE RESIDENT, HAMID ZORAB, SAYING: "My son went to transport furniture for a man who lives in Kaberly village. On their way back, his vehicle was hit by an IED, killing both of them, my son and the man who was with him." VARIOUS OF MAG MEMBERS TEACHING CHILDREN HOW TO DEAL WITH LAND MINES CHILDREN LISTENING TO LECTURE MAG MEMBER POINTING TO VARIOUS PICTURES OF LAND MINES GIRL RESPONDING TO QUESTIONS DURING LECTURE VARIOUS OF CHILDREN LISTENING TO INFORMATION ON HOW TO DEAL WITH LAND MINES
- Embargoed: 17th December 2016 13:20
- Keywords: Iraq Mosul Erbil Islamic State mines
- Location: KHAZER, ERBIL, IRAQ
- City: KHAZER, ERBIL, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA0015B6YUDJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Thousands of Iraqis who fled when Islamic State swept through swathes of Iraq in 2014 are returning to their homes.
But in their desperation to get back to their villages many of them have been killed or maimed by land mines and booby traps left behind by Islamic State fighters as they withdrew.
Mine clearers say that as well as booby trapped buildings, minefields stretch for tens of kilometres (miles) to the southeast of Bashiqa, roughly along the former frontier of IS-held areas.
In a village along that line in the Khazer area southeast of Mosul, dozens of yellow pickets hammered into the soil, mark where mines have been cleared along a path leading right up to the local school.
"This village is heavily… is one of those villages which is heavily mined. On our arrival only 43 families returned back, so we started the clearance of mine rows, close to those villagers and their houses. After we achieved that, we moved to the highly contaminated areas and removing booby traps inside the houses," said Salam Mohammed, a spokesperson for the international Mines Advisory Group (MAG), which is working to clear the explosives.
Mohammed said so far MAG had found more than 350 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in that village alone, which was recaptured earlier in the year. Work on much bigger towns, like Bashiqa, has only just started.
The land mines, mostly large metal cylinders made in Islamic State's bomb factories and weighing as much as 35 kg., were designed to kill, not to maim, Mohammed said. Of 25 civilian casualties from explosives in the Khazer area in recent months, 16 died.
According to Mohammed a lot of people are taking the risk of coming back because they have run out of money.
"The mine row in this village going through the houses, just aiming, not outskirts of the village, just aiming in the village and the villagers after their return, because they've been away living in the IDP, Internally Displaced People camps and in the renting houses in the other villages. So, they have been out for more than 2 years and three months, so they run out of their money reserve. Some of them, they know it's risky, they still, they want to come home", he said.
The danger fails to deter some locals from returning from exile.
Farmer Hamid Zorab said he knew the village was booby-trapped, but his family had to return when they ran out of money after renting a house in a nearby district for nearly two years.
The family's homecoming several months ago came at a high cost. Zorab's son was killed when his vehicle struck an IED and exploded when he was on his way back to village.
"My son went to transport furniture for a man who lives in Kaberly village. On their way back, his vehicle was hit by an IED, killing both of them, my son and the man who was with him," Zorab said.
Mine clearers are working as fast as they can to secure areas Islamic State has been driven from, but do not know how much time it will take. They advise families to stay away but sometimes to no avail.
The force of a child's footstep will set off most mines and the explosions can destroy a vehicle, Mohammed said.
His team detonated an IED they could not diffuse or remove. Smoke from the deafening blast shot up several metres into the air.
In a home in a still heavily mined village, MAG workers have been teaching children how to recognise unexploded ordnance and booby traps, which could take almost any form - a rigged fridge, a piece of pipe by the road, or a toy. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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