News – January 2025

January 31, 2025

The Government of Australia has allocated an additional AUD 2 million to support the Royal Government of Cambodia’s efforts to achieve a mine-free status by 2030 through the Clearing for Results Project, implemented by the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). A new Contribution Agreement was signed ...

January 28, 2025

Local officials in Kandahar province have reported that two children were killed in an explosion caused by an unexploded shell in the Spin Boldak district of the province. Asadullah Jamshid, the spokesperson for the Taliban’s provincial police command, stated in a press release that the incident occurred on Monday morning, January 27, in the Hoot Ghara ...

January 28, 2025

Commissioner of Police in Niger State, CP Shawulu Danmamman, described the recent dynamite explosion in Sabon Pegi community, Mashegu Local Government Area, as unfortunate. The explosion occurred due to the indiscriminate storage of dynamite in residential areas, which the community allegedly concealed. CP Danmamman’s stand reiterated disclosure by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake ...

January 28, 2025

Workers dismantling a collapsed bridge over the Elbe River in the eastern German city of Dresden have once again found what appears to be an unexploded World War II-era bomb. This is according to the authorities report on Tuesday. The area around the Carola Bridge has been cordoned off as bomb disposal specialists investigate the discovery, ...

January 28, 2025

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – A cadet brother team developed an electronic wire stabilization and cutting tool that could revolutionize explosive ordnance operations. Military members are put at risk during explosive ordnance operations as they disarm improvised explosive devices. Cadets 1st Class Gunnar and Simon Gott’s project introduces additional tools for EOD technicians. It offers ...

January 27, 2025

A Norwegian aid group has suspended mine clearing activities in 13 countries following the freezing of US foreign aid, one of its directors told AFP on Monday. Last year, Norwegian People’s Aid received $41 million from US authorities to support its demining activities around the world. On Friday, “we were told that we had to put ...

January 23, 2025

Cambodia has cleared and released 3,297 square km of land contaminated by all forms of explosive ordnances in the last 32 years, benefiting millions of rural people, a senior official said on Thursday. Ly Thuch, a senior minister and first vice president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), said that from 1992 ...

January 22, 2025

A landmine clearance charity will be given £7 million to continue its “life-saving” work in Ukraine and Afghanistan. The UK Government cash for the Hazardous Area Life-support Organisation (Halo) Trust will enable the charity to make land safe for agriculture in Ukraine, and to restore basic services affected by the threat of explosives in Afghanistan. Development ...

January 19, 2025

Cambodia has extended its mine-free goal to 2030 from the previous 2025 target, due to geographical difficulties for mine search and clearance along the border, a spokesperson for the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) said on Sunday. Lang Kosal said minefields along the Cambodia-Thailand border are located in extremely difficult geographical mountainous terrain ...

January 18, 2025

An unexploded World War Two ordnance has been removed and blown up after being found in an Isle of Wight garden. The device was discovered in the garden of a home off Main Road in Wellow village on Friday morning at about 10:45 GMT. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said a cordon was set up ...

January 17, 2025

Two Cambodian deminers were killed Thursday as they attempted to remove an anti-tank mine left over from the country’s nearly three decades of war and disorder, authorities said. The Cambodian Mines Action Center, the agency that oversees demining operations, said the two men had been working to clear mines from a farmer’s rice field in northwestern ...

January 16, 2025

On Thursday, the General Directorate for Mine Affairs in Duhok announced its 2024 statistics regarding efforts to remove explosive materials across the governorate. The Head of the Directorate, Shilan Naheli, told Shafaq News that mine clearance teams successfully cleared seven agricultural plots, covering a total area of 540,301 square meters in 2024. She explained that these ...

January 16, 2025

The boxy, machine gun-equipped vehicle lumbered across the snow-covered battlefield, with no crew aboard and marking what its remote Ukrainian operators described as a major milestone as Russian artillery fire rained around it. Sparing soldiers for the infantry assault that came later, the unmanned device was operated at a distance by Ukraine’s Khartiia Brigade in the ...

January 15, 2025

During 2024, the United Nations Mission to Support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA) has recorded 61 landmine and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) related incidents in Hudaydah Governorate. A total of 41 civilians were killed and another 52 were injured. 40 per cent of the victims were women and children. Ad Durayhimi, Al Hali and At Tuhayta ...

January 13, 2025

On Thursday, General Artur Kepczynski was dismissed from his position as head of the Armed Forces Support Inspectorate, as reported by the Ministry of Defence. The reasons for this decision, made by Kosiniak-Kamysz, were not disclosed; however, media reports suggest that the dismissal is related to the disappearance of anti-tank mines. The Wirtualna Polska (WP) website ...

January 12, 2025

A World War II-era bomb was safely detonated by the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) in the waters off Pulau Sibuan, Semporna, on Saturday evening (Jan 11). The unexploded ordnance (UXO), discovered by local fishermen on Jan 7, had remained dormant for decades. The navy’s specialised Mine Disposal Unit, led by Lieutenant Commander Ghazali Soleman, was dispatched ...

January 10, 2025

United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) conducted a three-week intermediate-level Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) course for the Peruvian Armed Forces as part of its Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) program. The HMA program in Peru incorporates a whole of government approach to build Peruvian capacity to address transnational challenges and create opportunities for regional leadership. This effort strengthens ...

January 10, 2025

The McCourtney Transfer Station in Grass Valley was evacuated and closed on Friday after what turned out to be live explosives was found, according to the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office. At 10:30 a.m., deputies were called to the transfer station at 14741 Wolf Mountain Rd. to investigate a suspicious device found in the metal scrap area ...

January 9, 2025

Cambodia recorded 49 landmines and explosive remnant of war (ERW) casualties in 2024, up 53 percent from 32 in the year before, a spokesperson said on Wednesday. “Twelve people were killed, 29 injured, and eight amputated due to landmine and ERW explosions last year,” Lang Kosal, a spokesperson for the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance ...

January 9, 2025

At least 80 civilians, including 12 children, have been killed by landmines and other explosive debris of war in the month since the Syrian strongman Bashar Al-Assad was toppled on December 8 last year. According to Mouiad Alnofaly, HALO’s Operations Manager in Syria, said: “HALO knows how to stop these bombs and landmines from exploding, making ...

January 8, 2025

Palauan Sharla Paules surveys the contaminated ground of her lush tropical home island of Peleliu, still littered with WWII munitions 80 years after its liberation from the Japanese. She recalls as a child her grandmother warning the land was poisoned by unexploded bombs, disrupting almost every aspect of traditional life on the island. “They said after ...

January 8, 2025

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, mine clearance experts have demined 35,000 sq km of Ukrainian territory, with 17,000 sq km cleared in 2024. Yuliia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy said: “As of the end of 2024, 35,000 sq km of Ukrainian land has been checked and cleared ...

January 7, 2025

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has expressed gratitude to Iceland for its recent contribution to producing Ukrainian weapons under the Danish model. Icelandic Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday, 7 January. During their meeting, Sybiha thanked her for Iceland’s support in producing Ukrainian weapons based on the Danish model. Sybiha also expressed ...

January 6, 2025

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) Vietnam has kicked off the new year with a focused Quality Management Refresher Training for its teams in Quang Tri Province. Conducted over two days from January 2-3, 2025, this training marked the formal resumption of work after the holiday break. Led by NPA Vietnam’s Quality Management Coordinator, Le Hoai Niem, the ...