DUSHANBE , August 1, Asia-Plus - Deming dogs will be involved in landmine-clearing operations that are currently under way in Rasht Valley within the first ten days of August, Jonmahmad Rajabov, the head of the Tajik Mine Action Cell (TMAC), said.  This will definitely speed up the work of deminers, according to him.  

According to him, the main demining operation will be carried out in the mine-strewn area of Chorcharogh. “We have to clear the area of totaling 80 hectares there of landmines by the end of this year,” Mr. Rajabov said.   

He reminded the demining dogs were brought to the Dushanbe center for demining dogs from Kabul in June this year.  “12 demining dogs purchased from Germany under financial support of the UNDP underwent training in Afghanistan , which has a special demining center for dogs due to its huge problem with mines,” The TMAC director said.

According to Mr. Rajabov, efforts are now under way to clear landmines along the Tajik-Afghan border in Panj (Khatlon) and Vanj (Gorno Badakhshan) as well as in Rasht Valley , where the mine-strewn areas are a legacy of the country’s civil war.  

Since the beginning of the year, the TMAC has cleared 15,000 squares meters of land, destroying 368 landmines 10 unexploded ordinance (UXOs).

Most of the landmines in Tajikistan were laid during the country''s five-year civil war that ended in 1997, but they can also be found along its borders with neighboring Afghanistan and Uzbekistan .  Russian border troops, who were stationed in the country in the 1990s, reportedly laid minefields on the border with Afghanistan , and Tashkent began planting landmines on part of its undemarcated border with Tajikistan in 1999 to stave off incursions by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) militants

According to Jonmahmad Rajabov, three people have been killed and another five injured by landmines in Tajikistan since the beginning of the year.

All in all, deminers have to clear 50 million square meters of mine-strewn areas in Tajikistan , according to the TMAC head.