IDF begins clearing 700 mines from Jordan Valley
By YAKKOV LAPPIN
09/06/2012 06:23
Mines, some 40-years-old, to be neutralized through controlled explosions; operation closely coordinated with Jordan.
A COMBAT engineer removes a land mine Photo: Courtesy IDF
The IDF has begun clearing some 700 land mines from the Jordan Valley border
region this week.
The mines, some 40 years old, will be neutralized
through controlled explosions by IDF Engineering Corps bomb squad officers in
the advanced phases of their training.
“This comes as part of a wider
trend to reduce the number of mine fields,” said Lt.-Col. Roee Zilberberg, the
Engineering Corps officer of Battalion 162, which is responsible for the Jordan
Valley.
“These mines have lost their operational uses, and are not
needed. They also pose a danger [to travelers],” Zilberberg said.
The
cleared mine fields are then turned over to civilian ownership, and are used as
farmland.
Three IDF Engineering Corps companies are involved in the
minefield clearing.
“They are in advanced training. Here, they
will see a real mine and hear the explosion. It’s a sign they are ready
for operational mine clearing,” Zilberberg added.
“The officer has to sense the
real thing to be operationally ready.”
The bomb squad officers will enter
the fields with mine sweepers and locate the mines, before attaching explosives
to them and detonating them. The entire operation is being carried out manually,
without the use of robots.
The operation is being closely coordinated
with Jordan.
The IDF has passed on information on the location of the
mine sweeps, and asked that Jordanian civilians be notified to expect to hear
the blasts.
Jordan has also placed fire trucks on its side of the border,
on standby.
The clearing operation began on Monday, and is set to be
complete by Thursday.