Project Masam’s Special Task Team, in cooperation with the Yemen Executive Mine Action Center (YEMAC) in Mukalla, has carried out a controlled demolition operation on Wednesday, destroying 663 landmines and items of explosive remnants of war.
The items demolished on Wednesday (12 August) included seven anti-personnel mines, eight anti-tank mines, 30 hand grenades, 66 37mm artillery shells, five 82mm shells, nine 82mm mortar shells, 315 rounds of 12.7mm DShK ammunition and 223 artillery fuzes.
This marked the tenth bulk demolition operation conducted in Hadhramaut Governorate since mid-January. Following Wednesday’s operation, Project Masam teams have now destroyed a total of 16,850 landmines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and items of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the governorate since 17 January.
The safe destruction of landmines and explosive remnants of war is a critical part of humanitarian Mine Action. Once recovered, explosive hazards must be securely managed and disposed of under controlled conditions to permanently remove the threat they pose. The destruction of UXO is particularly important in Yemen, where explosive material and components recovered from munitions can potentially be repurposed for use in improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Regular demolition operations therefore ensure that recovered ordnance cannot continue to endanger civilians or be returned to circulation and used to create new explosive threats.
