De-mining activity at former Taliban fortress скачать в хорошем качестве

De-mining activity at former Taliban fortress

(29 Jan 2002) 1. Various of mine-clearance team praying for a safe day's work 2. Wide of Kalai-Jangi Fortress 3. Various of people looking for unexploded ordinances: 4. SOUNDBITE: (Dari) Zalmai (one name only), Supervisor, Halo Trust mine clearance team: "This ammunition is extremely dangerous for civilians and soldiers at the base (in the fortress). Only recently, three people exploded on live ammunition here." 5. Controlled explosion of mortar shells 6. Various of burned-out truck 7. Wide of Kalai-Jangi Fortress STORYLINE: In Northern Afghanistan, mine and ordinance clearance operations are taking place in the area around the Kalai-Jangi Fortress in Mazar-e-Sharif. It's where a revolt of Taliban prisoners was crushed by United States and Northern Alliance soldiers in December 2001. The fortress is littered with rockets and bombs used in the attack and with grenades and mortar shells that were scattered when an arms depot was detonated. Thousands of rounds of ammunition exploded, but tens of thousands of rounds were scattered without exploding over more than 100-thousand square metres. So, the British-sponsored Halo Trust has been working to remove the ammunition since mid-December. So far they have cleared about 50-thousand mortar shells, rockets and grenades. Ordinance is either transported away by truck or destroyed in controlled explosions if it is more fragile. Since 1988, the Halo Trust has been operating in Afghanistan on removing the millions of unexploded mines and other ordinance across the country. Estimates on the exact number of unexploded ordinance vary from 10 to 20 (m) million, but mine-clearance organisations are agreed that it will take decades to clear them. Many landmines date from the era of Soviet occupation in the 1980s or, more recently, were placed there by either the Taliban or the Northern Alliance. During its anti-terrorist operation against the al-Qaida terror network, the United States has also been dropping rockets and cluster bombs on Afghanistan, many of which have not exploded. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...