Afghanistan: UN-backed mine clearing project reports 34 killed during 2014

15 January 2015 – The United Nations-supported Mine Action Programme in Afghanistan (MAPA) has said today that while 2014 could prove to have been a major turning point in the country’s long and tortured history, it was also a year that had inflicted “immense and unprecedented tragedy” on the programme’s personnel.

Over the year, MAPA was directly affected by 37 security incidents that resulted in 34 deaths among its personnel and 27 injuries, with an attack on a de-mining project near to a copper mine in Logar province in June and a second in Helmand province in December accounting for 19 of the deaths and nine injuries.

“The total of 34 de-miners killed in 2014 is almost equal to the total number over the previous four years combined,” said a press statement released by the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA), which is managed by the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS).

MACCA’s statement also countered reports in the Afghan media that two recent attacks on de-miners working for the Programme were carried out because they were clearing IEDs in an area of ongoing conflict.  Read More at Afghanistan: UN-backed mine clearing project

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