UN says civilian casualties mount due to landmines in Yemen's Hodeidah

The UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) said on Monday landmines and explosive ordnance continued to result in civilian deaths and injuries in Yemen's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.
"Since the shift of the frontlines on Nov. 12, 2021, 242 civilian casualties consisting of 101 deaths and 141 injuries, have been reported in Hodeidah due to landmines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW)," UNMHA said in a press statement.
In the past three days alone, the UN mission said that 15 landmine and ERW casualties, including the death of a child and the injury of 12 other children, were recorded.
The regrettable toll serves as a reminder of the devastating impact that war remnants have on the civilian population of the governorate, it added.
UNMHA reiterated its call for urgent and concrete measures to clear contaminated areas in the governorate. The mission remains committed to supporting the parties and providing coordination and technical support for mine action, including support to landmine and ERW risk education and awareness.
Previous reports by humanitarian organizations said Yemen had become one of the largest landmine battlefields in the world since World War II.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern Yemeni provinces and forced the internationally-recognized government out of the capital Sanaa.
The Saudi-led coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in March 2015 to support the Yemeni government and restore state institutions from the Houthis' grip.
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