Libya records 63 mine victims in 2025, including 21 children: UNSMIL

Tripoli: The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has said that 63 casualties from explosive remnants of war were recorded in 2025 alone, including 21 children.

Repeated armed conflicts and unsafe ammunition storage have left a widespread legacy of explosive ordnance contamination across Libya, affecting residential areas, roads and agricultural land, UNSMIL said in a statement on Saturday (local time).

Issued on the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, the statement stressed the importance of mine action in protecting civilians and supporting peace and stability in Libya, reports Xinhua news agency.

UNSMIL said large-scale armed clashes in Tripoli in May 2025, along with four accidental explosions at ammunition depots in populated areas over the past two years, have underscored the severity of explosive ordnance contamination in Libya.

Risks remain even in areas where active conflict has subsided, particularly due to unsecured weapons and stockpiles, posing an immediate danger to displaced families returning home, according to the statement.

UNSMIL reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Libyan-led efforts to enhance the security of weapons and ammunition stockpiles and to clear explosive ordnance contamination. The mission called on national authorities, international partners and civil society to strengthen coordinated and sustained support for mine clearance efforts.

Libya remains divided between the UN-recognised Government of National Unity in the west and a rival eastern administration headed by Osama Hammad and backed by Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army.

Militia clashes have become frequent in the African nation.

Earlier in March, armed clashes broke out in Zawiya, a city about 60 km west of Tripoli, leaving one person dead, a local daily reported.

Al-Bashti Al-Zahouf, a member of the city’s Council of Elders and Notables, told Al-Mashhad newspaper that fighting erupted in the Dila-Qamouda area between two armed factions. And both groups are affiliated with the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU).

The fighting underscores persistent tensions in Zawiya, where rival armed groups have repeatedly clashed despite calls from local leaders for calm.

IANS