Deadly Game
Story and Photographs by Sean Sutton
Dozens of children killed by mines and unexploded bombs every day in Iraq
Fifty-two killed and 63 injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO); these are the devastating statistics in just one week coming from the main hospital in Kirkuk, northern Iraq. The real figures will be much higher as we know that many deaths are not recorded. There is no death registration system. More devastating is that most of the deaths and injuries are caused to children.
 "playing on a tank")
Children playing on an anti-aircraft gun. MAG teams cleared thousands of high explosive rounds out the night before
Children playing with death
The vast majority of casualties are from children tampering with the UXO that litters their playgrounds . They do this for fun and they don't realise the dangers until it's too late. Children can be seen prising open shells to get at the gunpowder which they then set fire to; they like the big flashes. They build fires in the former military trenches, throw in their own stockpiles of UXO and run away. Some of them get away - too many are getting killed.
 "playing with UXO 1")
Mines and UXO
A MAG assessment team entered Kirkuk city the day it fell on Thursday 10 April. Hundreds of thousands of UXO items were seen in piles near former military positions in and around the city. Military camps to the north and west of the city had been hit by US cluster bomb strikes and some 15 per cent of the yellow, cylindrical bomblets will have failed to explode on impact. They lie in wait for innocents until MAG can remove them.
 "playing with UXO 2")
Emergency
Responding to this widespread emergency, MAG sent three teams of technicians from their bases in northern Iraq to the city of Kirkuk. More are on their way and further mine/UXO education teams are working with children and their parents to make them aware of the dangers. At the time of writing MAG, a world-leader in its field, is still the ONLY mine action organisation clearing mines in Iraq. MAG has just received confirmation of funding from the US State Department for an operations base, three mine action teams and three mine awareness teams in Kirkuk. This is great news for the people of Kirkuk, but we need more funding to continue operations in other areas.
 "injured child")
MAG clears mines
It is a battle against time and, as the only mine action organisation working in liberated areas of Iraq, MAG has made massive strides in clearance. In just one week MAG cleared 30 truck loads of UXO. More than 11,000 landmines and 200,000 items of unexploded shells, bombs and missiles have been destroyed or removed to a safe-guarded location for future destruction by MAG teams. Hundreds of thousands of mines and UXO are still in the streets houses and schools that were used as ammo dumps by Iraqi forces in the city. MAG has been in Iraq for more than 10 years every single day and it has the expertise. Teams are also working in Mosul and MAG needs to move further into central Iraq and southern Iraq. But it's clear MAG needs to do more. To do more MAG needs more.
 "removing UXO")
MAG NEEDS YOUR HELP!
As the only mine clearance organisation working in the area MAG is critically short of funds. It is essential that MAG gets the funds to send in more teams into other villages, towns and cities. It is too late for the victims, but with your support many lives can be saved.
 "injured child 2")
10 year old Khadab found a cache of munitions in a school in Kirkuk. He was terribly injured after trying to burn gunpowder and explosives taken from the ordnance. 52 people have been killed and 63 injured by landmines and unexploded ordnance in the last seven days in Kirkuk. The vast majority of the victims are children. MAG has since taken away the ordnance in the school to be safely destroyed.
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