Landmine kills 20-year-old man in Sulaymaniyah village

SULAYMANIYAH — A 20-year-old man was killed after stepping on a landmine in the village of Korramew, located within the Nalparez sub district in Sulaymaniyah’s Penjwen district, authorities said.

“The young man had gone to gather wild spring herbs last night when he unknowingly entered a minefield,” said Hemn Ibrahim, the district governor of Penjwen, in a statement to 964media.

The victim, identified as Dilshad Mahmood, a resident of Tarratawana village in the Nalparez area, was the latest to fall victim to remnants of unexploded ordnance in the region.

This was the third landmine explosion in Kurdistan this week. On March 13, a 58-year-old man was killed when a mine detonated in the Rola mountains near Dargala village in the Rawanduz district of Erbil’s Soran autonomous administration. He was in the mountains with his son and a companion, collecting wild spring grasses when he inadvertently stepped on the device.

Three days later, on March 16, another explosion injured a 50-year-old man on Piran Mountain in the Mergasor District of Soran’s autonomous administration. He was also gathering wild spring herbs when the mine detonated.

Spring is a time when many people venture into the mountains to forage for seasonal plants, unaware of the landmines left behind from past conflicts. Authorities continue to warn residents about the dangers of unexploded ordnance, urging caution in remote areas where mines remain a persistent threat.

The Kurdistan Region continues to grapple with extensive landmine contamination—a lingering threat from decades of conflict, including the Iran-Iraq War, confrontations with the former Baathist regime, and ongoing regional instability. This dangerous legacy affects the daily lives of residents, particularly in remote and rural areas.