ISIS Bombs, Mines Pose ‘Unprecedented’ Threat in Liberated Areas Near Mosul
In areas surrounding Mosul and inside the city itself, retreating ISIS militants left behind thousands of homemade explosives, mines and booby traps. They are buried alongside roads, hidden in farm fields, scattered around schools and inside homes. Some have a military purpose and were intended to keep advancing Iraqi and Kurdish forces at bay. Others, […]Lucy Kafanov writes for NBC News:
In areas surrounding Mosul and inside the city itself, retreating ISIS militants left behind thousands of homemade explosives, mines and booby traps. They are buried alongside roads, hidden in farm fields, scattered around schools and inside homes. Some have a military purpose and were intended to keep advancing Iraqi and Kurdish forces at bay. Others, simply made to kill.
"It's mainly to catch civilians and people who are desperately trying to come home," says Salaam Mohammed Amin, a Technical Field Manager for Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a non-profit that works to remove mines across the globe. "It's the worst contamination I've ever seen in my entire lifetime — it's unprecedented."
On a recent afternoon, Salaam took NBC News on a tour of one of several villages currently being cleared by MAG. Some of homes remain intact while others were flattened in the fighting or by ISIS explosives.
