Unexploded ordnance and landmines littering northern Iraq have killed or maimed more people - many of them children - since the end of the war than during the fighting, a Guardian investigation has revealed.
In the two weeks after the cessation of hostilities on the northern frontline, which divided the Kurdish self-rule area from government-controlled territory, as many as 80 civilians have died and more than 500 have been injured.
"We are facing an emergency situation," said Sean Sutton of the UK-based Mines Advisory Group, which is coordinating an operation in the region to clear unexploded ordnance and mines.
"Across Iraq, the detritus of war is killing, maiming and scarring for life adults and, most tragically, children."
Michael Howard The Guardian UK April 28, 2003{each one of those 'civilians' was and is just as real as Polly Klaas or Laci Peterson}
