DUSHANBE, August 31, Asia-Plus — Another landmine explosion occurred on the Tajik-Uzbek border in the Sughd province last Sunday [August 27].
According to information from the Tajik Mine Action Cell (TMAC), more than 70 head of sheep and goats were killed in that explosion. Fortunately, no casualties among the local population were reported. The source says that this time, the mine explosion occurred in the mountain area of Langar, Urmetan jamoat in the northern district of Ayni.
According to information from the Tajik border service, antipersonnel mines planted along the Uzbek-Tajik border have killed 68 people, including 20 children, and injured 83, including at least 10 children, since 2000, when Tashkent installed anti-personnel mines in the separate sections of its 1,050-kilometer border with Tajikistan to stave off incursions by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) militants.
The locations of the thousands of remaining mines are not marked and civilians routinely step on them and are either killed or horrifically maimed. “All in all, 65 landmine explosions have occurred on the Tajik-Uzbek border since 2000,” the source said.
