Shalamcheh minefield fully cleared by year-end: Iranian defense minister

TEHRAN, May 8 (MNA) – Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Monday that minefields in Shalamcheh, southwestern Iran, which was once the most contaminated area in the world, will be fully cleared by the end of the Iranian calendar year, March 20. So far, 71 mine-clearers have lost their lives and 408 are seriously injured, Vahidi told reporters. Iran needed mine clearance software programs to clear minefields along its border with Iraq, laid during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, but Western countries had refused to provide Iran with these software programs. However, Iran has recently developed a domestically designed software program which is used in mine-clearing operations and will definitely help facilitate the process of mine clearance in Shalamcheh.