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Sri Lanka army de-mining team receives international recognition

Xinhua, August 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

A two-member Sri Lanka Army de-mining team has been selected by the U.S.-based Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) as "Team of the Year 2016," the country's army media unit said here on Monday.

The two member team, Alvin and its handler, Lance Corporal Nawarathne have since December 2011 de-mined a land area of approximately 73,340 square meters in the north and east of the island nation.

During the clearing program, they recovered 20 Rocket Propeller Grenades (RPGs), 48 grenades, 137 anti-personnel mines, 24 unexploded ordnance, 18 detonators and 243 ammunition and other explosive devices.

Their demining effort has enabled 1,945 displaced people belonging to 415 families to return home.

In 2012, the MDD Ciro and its handler, Sapper D.K.N Rohana of the Sri Lanka Army Engineers were also selected for the same award in recognition of their services to clear 9,570 square meters of area and recover 101 LTTE-made APMs, three LTTE-produced hand grenades, a 60 mm mortar bomb and two unexploded RPGs.

The Sri Lankan military recently said it would soon clear the nation's former war torn areas from landmines as only 64 acres of land now remained to be cleared.

Following the end of the 30-year civil war between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels, 2,064 acres of land in the country had to be cleared from landmines and explosives which had been buried by the rebels.

Government troops defeated the rebels in May 2009.

The army, together with demining agencies, have to date cleared 2,000 acres of land, mostly in the nation's north and east, which was the most affected by decades of conflicts. Operations are ongoing to clear the remaining 64 acres.

Thousands of families who had been displaced by the war have already been re-settled back in the cleared areas with the help of demining agencies.

The new government of President Maithripala Sirisena has pledged to re-settle all the families affected by the war in the coming years and has already launched a national mine action program to make the country mine free. Endit