The Kurdistan Region recorded nine landmine casualties during the first six months of 2026, with two people killed and seven others injured, according to the Region’s mine action agency.
Jabbar Mustafa, head of the agency, said one fatality occurred in Erbil province and the other in Sulaimani province. He added that the severity of injuries among the survivors varied.
During the same period, demining teams removed 26,583 pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXOs) and 437 anti-tank landmines. Authorities also cleared around 200,000 square metres of contaminated land, including two minefields and three former battlefields.
Large areas of the Kurdistan Region remain contaminated by landmines and unexploded munitions left behind from decades of conflict, including the Iran-Iraq War, the Kurdish civil war and mines laid by the former Ba’athist regime during the 1970s and 1980s.
According to the mine action agency, more than 563 square kilometres of land have been cleared since demining operations began in the early 1990s.
Landmines continue to pose a serious threat across the Region. Since the establishment of the Kurdistan Regional Government in 1992, more than 13,000 people have been killed or injured by mines and unexploded ordnance. In 2025 alone, 34 people were affected, including 12 who lost their lives.
