As the Sool regional police commander attributes the Unexploded device to the 1980- early 90s war and appeals for expedited mine clearance services 
By: Yusuf M Hasan
LAS ANOD (Somalilandsun) – A family in Las Anod town the capital of Somaliland’s Sool region is mourning the death of their 11 years son.
The grief follows the sudden death of late master Mukhtar Farah Bile whose demise was occasioned by a landmine just at the outskirts of the country’s eastern town, revealed the police.
According to the Sool Regional Police boss Lieutenant Colonel Khalif Mahmud Ali, the sad death of the 11 years late Mukhtar came from a buried landmine that exploded as the deceased and other colleagues were playing though without knowledge of the risk at Dhuyo Huunsho.
Lt Colonel Khalif attributed the landmines to the army of dictator Mohamed Siyad Barre that were laid during the brutal 1980s to early 90s war between the Somalia army and rebels of the Somalia national movement-SNM whose culmination was the liberation and eventual 1991 withdrawal of Somaliland from its 1960 voluntary later turned fateful union with Somalia
While extending condolences to the bereaved family as well as relatives and friends of late Master Mukhtar, the regional police chief urged the central government in Hargeisa to dispatch mine clearance agencies to areas under his command
Though incidences of deaths or injuries from unexploded mines are not new, the concerted efforts over the years by various agencies like the Danish De-mining Group, Britain’s Halo Trust and Somaliland’s own SMAC have ensued with 97% reduction
On the other hand major casualties from the unexploded devices planted by the Somalia army during the civil war, more so as pertains limbs are replaced by agencies like the Somaliland Red Crescent Society and Disability Action Network that avail artificial prosthetic limbs as well as physiotherapy facilities but sadly only in the capital Somaliland.
| WATCH
the Sool regional police commander on the mine death
