SARAJEVO, Jan 25 (Hina) - In the last 24 hours, three Sarajevo teenagers were wounded by unexploded mines, IFOR representatives told a press conference today.
SARAJEVO, Jan 25 (Hina) - In the last 24 hours, three Sarajevo
teenagers were wounded by unexploded mines, IFOR representatives
told a press conference today. #L#
Yesterday, two boys entered a minefield while playing in the
suburb of Dobrinja. One of them, a 14-year-old Nermin Sandel
stepped on a mine which blew off his heel. The other boy, a 16-
year-old Muamer Mrdic had more luck and got away with injuries to
his heel bones.
A 15-year-old Gazimir Gasaj was brought to hospital the same
day with severe wounds to his right foot. The boy had stepped on a
mine near the separation line towards the suburb of Grbavica.
Brigadier General John Moore-Bick, the head of the British
IFOR engineering unit, said that 30% of mine fields on former front
lines had been properly marked.
The minesweeping process would be a very difficult job, he
said, adding that it could last more than 30 years.
IFOR representatives hold that the parties in Bosnia had
managed to remove or destroy not more than one third of mine fields
by the deadline set for the withdrawal from separation zones.
According to plans IFOR had received from the parties, there
were 6,255 mine fields in the whole of Bosnia-Herzegovina, one of
the experts for minesweeping, Major Martin Andrews said.
Andrews' commander, General Moore-Bick recalled that the World
Bank had decided to give a considerable amount of money for the
minesweeping program. He estimated that at least six million anti-
infantry and anti-tank mines had been planted in Bosnia-Herzegovina
and Croatia, three millions in each country.
Under the peace agreement, the mines have to be removed by the
sides which had set them, and NATO forces would only supervise the
process. General Moore-Bick warned that the biggest problem
currently was the protection clothes. According to IFOR estimates,
the whole operation could be stopped if 500,000 dollars for
bulletproof jackets and detectors were not found immediately.
According to data provided by IFOR headquarters, 39 persons -
IFOR soldiers, members of the three armies in Bosnia and civilians
- have been wounded or killed by mines since the arrival of NATO
forces a month ago.
(hina) rm jn
251654 MET jan 96