Project Masam has announced it has located and destroyed 415,494 explosive devices in Yemeni liberated areas.
These include 6,319 anti-personnel mines, 140,864 anti-tank mines, 260,421 unexploded ordnance (UXO) and 7,890 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) neutralised over 49,784,141 square metres of land since mid-2018.
Since the conflict between Yemen’s pro-government forces and Houthi militias escalated in 2014, liberated strategic areas have been left littered with Houthi anti-personnel mines and anti-tank mines, along with unexploded remnants of war.
Last week (9 September – 15 September 2023) alone, Project Masam deminers removed 968 deadly items, including five anti-personnel mines, 49 anti-tank mines, 913 UXO and one IED, according to Project Masam Managing Director Ousama Algosaibi.
Up to five million people are estimated to have been forced to flee their homes since the beginning of the conflict in Yemen – many of them displaced by the presence of landmines on their land.
Masam teams are tasked to clear areas of immediate humanitarian priority: villages, roads, schools, etc… in order to facilitate the safe movement of civilians and humanitarian goods and services.
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