Alwaght- The United Nations says the Iraqi city of Mosul will need tens of millions of dollars for deactivating mines planted by the ISIS terrorist group.
The UN agency fighting the use of land mines in the world says after the city is liberated from terrorists by Iraqi national army, a $50 million budget will be needed for demining and securing it for the return on civilian population.
Another $50 million budget is also needed to remove mines and improvised explosive devices (IED) implanted by the ISIS terrorist group in another parts of the country, Paul Heslop, the chief of program planning and management section of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) said.
“Clearing IEDs and building clearances is a lot more dangerous than minefields. You need a higher level of technical skill and complex equipment and it's slower. As areas are liberated, you get a better idea of the level of contamination,” he added.
In a previous estimation the agency had called for a $112 million budget for the whole country for its Department of Peacekeeping Operations for this year and around $178 million next year.
Iraqi army soldiers, supported by fighters from pro-government Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), commonly known by the Arabic term Hashd al-Shaabi, and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, launched a joint operation on 17 October 2016 to retake Mosul, ISIS last urban bastion in Iraq. The anti-terror forces have so far fully liberated the eastern half of the flashpoint city, home to more than one million people.
