Over 860,000 mines removed in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lanka army said over 860,000 mines and booby traps have been removed since the end of the war with the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.

Brigadier Dhananjith Karunaratne, Commander of the Army engineer brigade, said that 470,000 anti-personnel mines, 1,400 anti-tank mines, 390,000 booby traps, and other improvised explosive devices have been removed since the end of the 39-year conflict.

The army media unit quoted him as saying that over 80 percent of the initial 5,000 square kilometres that had been heavily mined by the rebels have now been cleared, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Sri Lanka Army has been honoured by the Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) of the US for having the best Mine Detection Dog Team for 2012 out of 107 teams from 11 countries.

Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the US Jaliya Wickramasuriya said before the war-displaced people could be resettled, vast areas of land in the former rebel held north and east parts of the country had to be cleared of land mines.

"The Sri Lanka Army worked quickly to handle the demining process and they benefited greatly from the Marshal Legacy institute's support and non-profit organisations around the world," he said.

Sri Lanka announced the completion of the resettlement process this month with most of the de-mining work complete.