Resident of Shamsiddin-Shohin (formerly Shouroobod) district in Khatlon province was killed after a landmine exploded at the Tajik-Afghan border.
The incident reportedly took place on March 23. Resident of the Dashtijum jamoat, which borders Afghanistan, stepped on an anti-personnel landmine while gathering grass in the border area, according to the Interior Ministry.
He sustained serious wounds and died on the way to a hospital, an official source at the Interior Ministry told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the antipersonnel mines had been laid along the Tajik-Afghan border during the civil was. This security initiative was reportedly aimed at preventing infiltration of militants of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO).
Meanwhile, residents of rural areas remain at the mercy of landmines that are a legacy of the country’s five-year disastrous civil war in the 1990s.
According to data, from the Tajik Mine Action Centre (TMAC), 374 Tajik nationals were killed and 485 others were wounded by landmines laid during the civil war and laid by the Uzbek authorities along the Tajik-Uzbek border in the late 1990s.
Two members of Tajik demining teams were reportedly killed and 20 others were wounded wile demining the anti-personnel landmines.
