Unexploded ordnance blast kills young man, injures another in Basra’s Shalamjah

BASRA – A young man was killed and another seriously injured Monday when an explosive remnant of war detonated in the Shalamjah area of Shatt al-Arab district, east of Basra, a security source told 964media.

The source said the explosion “resulted in the immediate death of one and the transfer of the other to the hospital with serious injuries.”

Iraq remains heavily contaminated with explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices after decades of conflict, including the Iran–Iraq War and the fight against ISIS, leaving residents in rural and remote areas at ongoing risk.

Earlier this month, a 13-year-old boy died after stepping on a land mine during a family outing in the Abu Ghar desert area of southern Dhi Qar, a security source told 964media.

The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that explosive remnants contaminate about 2,100 square kilometers of land across Iraq, an area roughly equal to 300,000 football fields, posing serious dangers to civilians returning to their homes and farmland.