Also, a de-mining technician told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the delay in removing mines is partly due to rampant corruption in awarding contracts. The technician said some companies have not yet met their obligations. Ahmed confirmed this, saying, "Some bad companies that were contracted in 2009, 2010 and 2011 did not carry out their work, knowing that they had signed a one-year contract. At the time, there was no financial crisis, but the companies disappeared and failed to fulfill their commitments.” The agency is taking legal action against these companies, he said.
Ahmed said seven companies shut their doors in Erbil, and money problems have stopped IKMAA at two different levels. First, the agency had 36 teams working across the Kurdistan Region, with the understanding that the workers would receive a monthly salary and the necessary equipment from the KRG. When the funding dried up, so did the work. Second, the specialized companies were operating through tenders, and IKMAA hasn't issued any tenders since 2015 because of the money crisis. Therefore, 99% of IKMAA's work has stopped at a time when IS mining activity is in full swing.
Eyewitnesses from the area told Al-Monitor that during the past three weeks there have been mining operations in the grazing lands of Kurdistan and a lot of livestock and citizens have been affected by the explosion of two recently planted mines.
According to the Kurdistan Ministry of Peshmerga, 80 people in the region have been killed or wounded by mines in battles against IS since 2014. In addition to IS’ efforts to mine battlefields, there are reports that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is also mining border areas with Kurdistan because of escalated fighting with the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran after the Revolutionary Guard established a military base at Mount Surin, 500 meters (almost 547 yards) within the Iraqi territory of the region.
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