DUSHANBE, August 24, Asia-Plus — A Tajik supper has been seriously during a mine-clearing operation in Rasht Valley.
Mr. Jonmahmad Rajabov, director of Tajik Mine Action Cell (TMAC), has told Asia-Plus that a 19-year-old serviceman of the engineering battalion of the Ministry of Defense (MoD), Mehrali Mullomurodov, was seriously injured on August 21 after a land mine in the area near the village of Shoul in the Rasht district exploded.
“After undergoing urgent surgical operation in the central district hospital in Rasht, Mullomurodov was taken by helicopter to Dushanbe for receiving specialized medical aid in one of central clinics of the capital,” Mr. Rajabov said.
According to medical workers who have treated the sapper, Mehrali Mulomurodov lost both his eyes and at present he is heavy condition.
A special commission set up to investigate into the incident is currently working in the Rasht district.
“Unfortunately it is already the second incident this year,” said Mr. Rajabov, “ On April 19, a French officer died during a mine-clearing operation along Tajikistan”s border with Afghanistan. Warrant Officer Gilles Sarrazin died after suffering severe injuries when a mine exploded, and a Tajik man, Azam Asrorov, was wounded in the blast.”
In the meantime, according to information from the Tajik Mine Action Cell, a mine-clearing operation in Tajikistan is ongoing. At present four demining teams are working in several mine-risk sites. Since the beginning of the operation to rid Tajikistan of landmines, the Tajik demining body has cleared more than 260,000 square meters of land. More than 2,000 landmines and 700 unexploded ordnances have been discovered and destroyed.
