Young people continue to be injured and killed by landmines in Yemen’s province of Taiz, according to local reports.
Since the conflict between Yemen’s pro-government forces and Houthi militias escalated in 2014, liberated strategic areas have been left littered with anti-personnel mines and anti-tank mines planted by Houthi militias, along with unexploded explosive remnants of war (ERW).
Amal Ahmed, a resident of the Al-Matar neighbourhood in Taiz, was completing her university education and preparing for her wedding when she was injured in a landmine blast.
Amal saw children playing with an object when she realised it was a landmine. As she put herself between the device and the children, the mine exploded. Amal lost both eyes in the blast. The young woman claimed her groom left her following the incident.
In the residential area of Bir Bashi in Taiz governorate, Mubarak Moqbel, a young man, lost one of his lower limbs to a Houthi mine.
A young girl, Sanaa Qassem, was walking with friends and talking about their scientific studies when a landmine exploded under her feet. One of her legs was amputated, while the other one was left damaged. One of her hands was also maimed.
Today, Sanaa tries to walk on her prosthetic leg with difficulty to do some of the household chores.
Meanwhile, Fouad Ali, a newly married young man, who dreamed of starting a family, working, succeeding, and earning a living, was seriously injured when he walked on a landmine on the way to meet a friend. He said he now spends most of his life indoors.
Landmine contamination is especially high in strategic areas across Yemen – the west coast, the port of Hudaydah and Taiz region.
Project Masam has made it its mission to rid Yemen of landmines and other ERWs.
