Sri Lanka to be landmine free soon: Military

Colombo, Dec 10: The Sri Lankan military on Thursday said it would soon clear the nation's former war-torn areas of landmines as only 64 acres of land now remains to be scanned.

Military spokesperson Jayanath Jayaweera told journalists at a weekly media briefing here that following the end of the 30-year civil war between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels, 2,064 acres of land had to be cleared of landmines and explosives which lay buried by the rebels, reported Xinhua.

The government troops defeated the rebels in May 2009.

The army, together with de-mining agencies, has till date cleared 2,000 acres of land, mostly in the nation's north and east - the areas most affected by decades of civil trife and conflict.

"... clearing the remaining 64 acres will be challenging," Jayaweera said. "But we are hoping to do it soon," he added.

Thousands of families displaced by the war have already been re-settled in the cleared areas, Jayaweera said.

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 programme to make the country landmine free.

IANS