Demining squad destroys 112 items of UXO

PARACIN - Ordnance disposal experts of the Serbian Interior Ministry's Sector for Emergency Management destroyed Tuesday a total of 112 items of unexploded ordnance (UXO) that had been found by members of the Russian-Serbian humanitarian demining squad.

Today's operation at Karadjordjevo Brdo, a hill outside the town of Paracin, central Serbia, was the second UXO destruction operation carried out in Serbia this year.

Head of demining operations Pavel Judinskih told Tanjug that the disposal professionals mostly destroyed items of UXO remaining after the explosion at a Serbian Armed Forces (VS) ammunition depot that occurred on October 19, 2006.

A total of 287 items of UXO were destroyed in the Paracin 6 project, 175 in the first demining stage and 112 today, including eight 50kg aerial bombs left over from World War II, said Judinskih.

Judinskih pointed out that the current project involved an international squad composed of 21 specialists divided into three groups. Two groups are from Russia and the third from Serbia, and we also have a mechanical cleanup group from Croatia, he said.

"Since 2008, the squad has cleaned up a total of 4,108,805 square meters here," said Judinskih, adding that a total of 12,631 items of unexploded ordnance had been found and destroyed since the beginning of the demining operations in Serbia.

The operations have been performed not only in the Paracin area, but also in Nis, in southern Serbia, where we were disposing of cluster bombs thrown by NATO aggressors in 1999, said Judinskih.

The demining projects are funded by the government of the Russian Federation.

Photo Tanjug, Dusan Anicic