Mansur Moradi began panicking as blood poured from both his legs after an unexpected explosion. Stranded in a minefield in western Iran, any movement he made could trigger yet another blast. The mountainous region is covered with millions of anti-personnel landmines laid during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War. Ultimately, the 36-year-old survived, thanks to luck. Iranian border guards managed to safely retrieve him, unlike many other similar victims, and transport him to a nearby hospital by air ambulance.
The prevalence of landmines in western Iran, largely home to ethnic minorities, including Kurds, Lurs and Arabs, poses a serious hazard to the lives of millions of Iranians. The people living in the border provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Ilam and Khuzestan continue to experience serious injuries as well as death from landmine explosions nearly 30 years after the end of the war with Iraq, a devastating conflict that saw the widespread use of anti-personnel mines.
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