Project Masam has announced today it has successfully demolished 659 landmines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Yemen’s southern Bab al-Mandab area.
The bulk destruction operation was carried out by Project Masam’s Special Task Force, and included six anti-tank landmines, nine banned anti-personnel mines, 23 shells, four IEDs, 429 miscellaneous rounds, and 188 miscellaneous fuses.
The Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team documented the work of Project Masam’s demining Team 28 in the Hariqiya area, in Dhubab district in the south-western Taiz Governorate, where a civilian bus hit an anti-tank mine.
These controlled demolitions, which follow international standards, mitigate the risk of landmines and other unexploded ordnance of falling into the wrong hands, or being repurposed for improvised explosive devices (IEDs) which continue to be locally manufactured and used in Yemen against civilians and military targets – without discrimination.
Project Masam issued its monthly report, in which it stated that the total of explosives removed during May 2024 amounted to 5,726 landmines, unexploded ordnance, and IEDs.
The total cleared land area has reached 56,881,560 square metres and the total number of explosives that have been removed since the launch of the humanitarian landmine clearance project at the end of June 2018 reached 444,858 landmines, unexploded ordnance, and IEDs. These explosives had been planted by the Houthi militia in various Yemeni governorates.
