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Mr. Saccomani’s annoucement came two days after Canada’s top general, Chief of Defence Staff Tom Lawson, met with Kurdish leaders in Erbil.

The need for the robots was initially identified in September, Mr. Saccomani said. “You have to understand that for us this is very, very fast,” he told Minister of Peshmerga Mustafa Sayid Qadir.

“Thanks to these robots, we will be able to clear areas of IEDs much quicker,” Mr. Qadir said. “I’m sure these robots will save many, many lives.”

However before they can be operated, peshmerga engineers need to be trained by the Canadian company which supplied the robotos, Med-Eng. Ambassador Saccomani said a time frame for this happening had not been finalized. (Med-Eng did not immediately respond to enquiries about the training schedule.)

Meanwhile, demining experts warn that the IED problem is urgent. Ako Aziz, the director of Mine Risk Education at the Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency (IKMAA) described the scale of the problem. “IEDs cover a huge area, from Rabia in the northwest, to Jalawla and Sadia in the southeast. In between is a long line of 1,000 km contaminated with IEDs, TNT, explosives.”

Deminers have struggled with the huge areas to be cleared, as well as identifying hidden or disguised booby traps, he said. Meanwhile, people from areas retaken by Peshmerga are waiting to return. “There have been many casualties from IDPs [internally displaced people] returning to booby-trapped homes. We warn returning civilians that everything in the occupied area can be trapped,” including items like televisions, light switches, and flashlights rigged to explode when handled, he said.