KABUL (SW): Officials at United Nations Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (UNMACA), said that the casualties due to landmines in the villages of the country have been unprecedentedly on the rise.
The number of victims in the rural areas has increased from 30 to 100 victims on a daily basis.
Abdul Wakil Ahmadzai, Head of Mine Clearance Center in northern provinces, told SalamWatandar that the number of casualties reached to 300 victims each day in the past but in 2014 the center managed to decrease the number of casualties to 30 victims in a day.
He said that the number of victims have suddenly reached to 100 people on a daily basis in 2014.
He added that civilians in the restive districts like Almar and Qaisar in northern province Faryaab are more vulnerable to fall prey to the landmines.
According to him, the only approach which can help to decrease the number of victims is to ban the selling of military equipment left from the civil wars in the country.
He further said that the center in cooperation with the local mosque’s clerics as well as Ministry of Education would play a crucial role in raising people’s awareness and decrease the number of victims.
He believed that civilians’ lack of awareness about unexploded ordnance has been the major reason behind the uptick in the number of landmine victims.
ENDS
