Aid group Handicap International estimates that up to 300,000 landmines and unexploded ordnance are scattered across Syria after more than a decade of civil war.
At least nine land workers were killed today when their car hit a landmine left by the Islamic State group in the eastern province of Deir al-Zor, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the official Syrian news agency SANA.
Three people were injured in the explosion. Since early January, a total of 137 civilians have been killed in landmine explosions in Syria, including 30 children, according to the Observatory.
Truffle hunters in Syria are particularly vulnerable to landmines as well as attacks by Islamic State extremists, a Observatory report says.
Many people in Syria, facing great financial difficulties, try to earn a living by searching for the precious truffle delicacy in the desert.
However, remote areas, hotbeds for extremists, are often covered in landmines, making the search for the truffle extremely dangerous.
Aid group Handicap International estimates that up to 300,000 landmines and unexploded ordnance are scattered across Syria after more than a decade of civil war.
Islamic State jihadists in Syria have targeted truffle pickers in recent weeks by kidnapping or killing them, according to the Observatory.
Although the Islamic State terrorist group has suffered military defeats and lost territory it had captured in Syria, it remains active in several areas of the country.
Source :Skai
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