Sappers in Iraq manually deactivate 140,000 sq. metres of minefields

According to a Defence Ministry spokesperson during the19 months it has been operating in Iraq, Slovakia's sapper unit has deactivated, by hand, mines over an area of 140,000 square metres, this equates to about 28 football fields. Plus, a much larger area has been demined using the help of specially-designed equipment. They have found and deactivated some tens of thousands of munitions and grenades. During the past 19 months there were more than 400 Slovak soldiers in Iraq.

Defence Minister Liska said, on the occasion of the second anniversary of the American led invasion of Iraq, that Iraq is a safer place thanks also in part to Slovak soldiers. "During my visit there I saw they are real professionals," Liska said. The soldiers will stay in Iraq as long as is required. "They will prove, that the Slovaks who died in Iraq last summer didn't die in vain," Liska said, adding that: "the Iraqi government wants the Slovak soldiers to stay, there is still a big area that needs to be checked and demined."