KABUL The explosive remnants of war (ERW) and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) kill or maim more than 120 people every month in the militancyhit Afghanistan, authorities said. ‘The home-made IEDs and explosive remnants of war (ERW), including unexploded ordnance (UXO) and abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO), kill or maim more than 120 Afghans every month,’ Afghanistan’s State Ministry for Disaster Management (SMDM) said in a statement reaching Xinhua on Monday. The statement was issued in the wake of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, which falls on April 4 every year. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the Afghan authorities failed to commemorate the day which had regularly been marked in Afghanistan in the past, according to the statement. Taliban militants and other insurgent groups in the country have been using IEDs to make roadside bombs and landmines to target security forces, but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians. ‘The figures given on the victims suggest that more than 60 percent of the monthly casualties were from improvised explosive devices (IEDs),’ said the statement. ‘Unprecedented increase in civilians’ casualties fromlandmines, unexploded ordnance, the legacy of the past wars and improvised explosives devices (IEDs) are a matter of concern,’ the statement noted.—APP
