Bagram, Afghanistan, Jan 11: Mine-clearing has resumed inside the US military's main Afghan base after operations stopped following an accident in which an American soldier lost a foot.

"We had a 24-hour safety stand-down to review all the procedures and talk to everybody, to make sure nobody is getting complacent," Col Roger King, the Bagram air base spokesman, said today. He said that clearing began again late yesterday, a day after the accident in which the soldier - whose name was withheld but who was with 769th engineering battalion from the Louisiana National Guard - stepped on a mine in an uncleared zone. King said that he did not know if the soldier violated any safety rules.


He added that there were no guarantees similar mishaps would not occur again in this sprawling, 6.4-kilometre long base -where nearly 4 square kms of land must still be cleared of mines. "We're confident people working in this area have the procedures in place to protect themselves," King said. "We also know it's a dangerous business. I wouldn't go out and say it's never going to happen again."

Since the beginning of 2002, more than 7,000 mines have been removed from Bagram - which is located on a strategically important plain near Kabul, the Afghan capital, and was often fought over by competing armies during 20 years of war here. In six months, nine coalition troops have been hurt by mines inside Bagram - three of them Americans. There were eight deaths on or near the base, most of them Afghans; no Americans have been killed by mines

Bureau Report